BUILDING THE GEORGE WASHINGTON BRIDGE
A PHOTO GALLERY

The George Washington Bridge stands high above the Hudson River, its eastern end resting on the shores of Manhattan, its western end embedded in the wooded bluffs of New Jersey's Palisades. Twice as long as the longest suspension bridge ever built, it was the marvel of its time and, to some, it will always be the noblest of all bridges. Spanning the river to link New York City and New Jersey had challenged planners for over 100 years before Othmar Ammann, the brilliant, Swiss-born architect and engineer, proposed a bridge design in 1923 that ultimately was chosen from all others. The Port Authority, with Ammann as its new chief engineer, began construction in October of 1927. Ammann's design, bold and foresighted, was an engineering tour de force, with an extraordinary 3,500-foot center span suspended between two 570' steel towers. It would have the capacity and strength to add a railroad or a second roadway with an additional six lanes.

  thanks to plep