George Washington Bridge
40.851944444444 - 73.954166666667Koordinaten: 40 ° 51 '7 "N, 73 ° 57' 15 " W
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The George Washington Bridge ( George Washington Bridge, colloquially GWB, GW Bridge or just GW) is a suspension bridge across the Hudson River in New York City that connects Manhattan with New Jersey. The road bridge with a total of fourteen lanes is considered the busiest bridge in the world. It is named after George Washington, the first President of the United States, named. At its opening in 1931, the planned and built by Othmar Ammann Bridge had the longest span in the world.
Location
The George Washington Bridge crosses the current flowing between steep, about 30 m high banks Hudson River between Washington Heights in northern Manhattan and Fort Lee, Bergen County, New Jersey, on the mainland side. In the immediate vicinity were formerly the Fort Washington at the highest point of Washington Heights and Fort Lee on the other side.
It is the only bridge between the island of Manhattan and the mainland west of the Hudson. Only the Holland Tunnel and the Lincoln Tunnel provide more direct road connections to New Jersey. Downstream, there is only the Verrazano -Narrows Bridge between Brooklyn and Staten Iceland, upriver, some 25 km to the north standing Tappan Zee Bridge is the next bridge over the Hudson River.
Traffic
The George Washington Bridge is part of Interstate 95 from Florida to Maine. The I -95 leads as New Jersey Turnpike in a great arc from the west to the bridge, crossed to the other side as a twelve-lane Trans - Manhattan Expressway in a trough Manhattan and crosses at the Alexander Hamilton Bridge to Harlem River to the Bronx, where the cross Bronx Expressway is. U.S. Highway 1 and U.S. Route 9 also go over the bridge, which also receives local traffic over various access roads.
The traffic flowing over the eight lanes on the upper and six tracks on the lower level, said truck are allowed to use only the upper level. There is a speed limit of 45 mph (72 km / h), but often the actual speed is lower due to the heavy traffic. In 2012, 49,110,921 vehicles crossed the bridge towards New York, so that the bridge is used a total of approximately 100 million vehicles per year.
The bridge is a toll road in the direction of New York, the trip from New York to New Jersey is free. According to the 2012-2015 toll rate schedule, the fee for crossing the bridge for motorcycles is $ 12 in cash, $ 9.25 with EZ Pass on commuting times ( peak) or $ 7.25 off-peak (off-peak ) and for cars and $ 13 bar $ 10.25 EZ Pass (peak ) and $ 8.25 EZ Pass off-peak. There are also discounts for cars, which are staffed with at least three people or have good emission values . For trucks apply by day or night time and number of axles different fares between $ 19 (2- axle vehicle, at night, with EZ- Pass) and $ 90 (6- axle semi tractor, Cash ). Pedestrians and cyclists to cross the bridge for free, they share the road on the south side, which is open 6 to 24 clock. The path on the north side of the bridge is normally closed unless maintenance requiring a different rule.
Description
The George Washington Bridge was built according to the plans and headed by Othmar Ammann, opened on October 24, 1931 and opened to traffic on October 25.
Their total length is 1451 m ( 4760 ft ), measured from an anchoring of the cables to the other. Since the bridge connects the areas above the high steep bank of the Hudson River, no long access ramps were required and the road over the bridge could be kept relatively flat. Explain the short spans between the banks and the pylons (192 m for the New York side and 186 m for the New Jersey side ) that the supporting cables outside of the pylons unusually steep drop their anchors. The bridge has a vertical clearance above mean high water of the Hudson River from 64.6 m (212 ft).
The span is 1067 m (3500 ft ), which at the time of its opening represented a new world record and the hitherto largest span of the Ambassador Bridge ( 564 m) far surpassed. In 1937, she was replaced by the Golden Gate Bridge at 1280 m span.
Her two pylons are made of a plain -looking steel truss structure. They are 184 m (604 ft) high, 64 m wide and 17 m thick and with these dimensions is still unique. Your pillars are connected in the upper third on the road by half-timbered and round arches to portals, corresponding to the opening of the width of the road carrier. Under the track support the pillars are also connected by arches and stiffens. The pylon on the New York side is right on the shore, the pylon on the other side just before the shore in the water. The pylons were originally covered with granite slabs, however, the steel structure was so well received that we renounce the panel.
The track support is 36 m (119 ft) wide. The voltage applied to the center of the upper level eight-lane road is 27.4 meters wide. The difference of about 4.3 m on both sides eliminates the need for the suspension ropes course.
The bridge has four supporting cables, two on each side of the roadway. The support cables are air spinning process on the bridge made parallel wire cables. Each of the cables is made of 26 474 individual wires. 434 wires were combined to 61 strands arranged in a hexagonal profile and to a round of hydraulic presses, formed almost 91 cm thick support cables and were then coated corrosion-resistant. The support cables are on the pylons in 162 tons (180 tn. Sh. ) Heavy rope saddles, which were originally placed face up on the pylon peaks were after two years but reconsidered. The suspension ropes are anchored on the New Jersey side directly in the rock, on the New York side, however, in large anchor blocks of concrete.
The George Washington Bridge in 1981 awarded by the American Society of Civil Engineers as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.
On holidays, Martin Luther King Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Washington 's Birthday, Columbus Day, Flag Day and Veterans Day is the pillar on the New Jersey side, the largest free- waving America flag in the world (30 × 20 meters, 215 kg ) hoisted.
North of the bridge on the New Jersey side are the Palisades, a wooded cliff. At 15 miles the development of visible from the Hudson from the strip is prohibited. Has this had the owner of John D. Rockefeller II, who wanted to protect the view from the museum " The Cloisters " in New York. Rockefeller had bought in 1925, the Museum of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
History
Since the end of the 19th century, there were various proposals for bridging the Hudson River, including various designs of Gustav Lindenthal, the Midtown Manhattan and New Jersey wanted to connect with a road and railway bridge, which would have been much larger than the present bridge, but was not carried out for lack of money. Othmar Amman had worked as a clerk Lindenthals in the design, but soon developed their own ideas.
After his separation from Ammann Lindenthal proposed a pure road bridge further north at Fort Lee in front, where the cost of the required land acquisition was significantly lower and the Hudson narrower. To further reduce costs, they should first have only one level for six lanes and two wide sidewalks, but be designed so that later added two lanes and a second level for motor vehicles and railway trains could be added in the suburbs. Thus he was able to propose a bridge that cost significantly less and be easier to implement politically than would the bridges offered by Lindenthal and other competitors.
Ammann's ideas were accepted; the newly formed Port Authority of New York and New Jersey decided in 1925 to build the bridge and adjust Othmar Amman as chief engineer for the planning and construction of the bridge. Cass Gilbert was commissioned architectural advice. On him the planning of the lining of the pylons returns with granite tops.
Ammann's final design was revolutionary in many ways: The span of the bridge was almost twice as large as that of the longest, done work to bridge and the road carrier had no large truss to stiffen. After Deflektionstheorie that had been applied by Leon S. Moisseiff at the Manhattan Bridge for the first time on large suspension bridges, the weight of the cables and the bridge deck would neutralize a large part of the lateral wind pressure; a low wind resistance of the flat platform girder is important here. Ammann, who had worked intensively with this theory and was also advised by Moisseiff was convinced that the four supporting cables, the large width of the bridge deck and its conditional by the span exceptionally high weight, were sufficient to withstand severe storms. Then there was the stiffness of the wide and thick pylons and the short outer bridge spans with there steep track ropes.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the Hudson River Bridge, as it was originally known, took place on 21 September 1927. After the construction of the towers and the anchor supplied by John A. Roebling and Sons wires of 300 workers in 209 working days were about four suspension ropes spun, where the Hängseile were attached. With the suspension of the sections of the bridge deck was started at the pylons, so that the final piece to the middle of the river completed the roadway. 1930, the Port Authority decided to name the bridge George Washington Memorial Bridge; Later this was simplified to its present name.
The bridge was officially opened on 24 October 1931 by the governors of Franklin D. Roosevelt, New York, and Morgan F. Larson, New Jersey - eight months before the agreed date and well below the budgeted limit.
Othmar Ammann was also after the collapse of something shorter, but with only two lanes much narrower and lighter Tacoma Narrows Bridge in November 1940, the firm belief that his bridge was stable enough to even withstand the until then not properly understood dynamic wind forces. The practice confirmed his view that the bridge showed little vibration.
1946, as stipulated from the beginning, the road extended from six to eight lanes. From 1959 to 1962, on the initiative of the Robert Moses also provided from the beginning second level below the original added, while traffic continued to run unchanged on the upper eight lanes. Thus, the bridge was necessarily a road carrier, which consisted of a large truss structure, so that its stiffness has since no longer doubted.
Between 1977 and 1978 the old concrete pavement of the upper level has been replaced by an orthotropic plate. In night-time work, the prefabricated, 3.35 x 18.30 m ( 11 x 60 ft) were major elements that were already provided with the road surface, installed. In this way, the rush-hour traffic could flow freely again the next morning. This was also one of the first uses of an orthotropic plate for reinforcing a larger suspension bridge.