The George Washington Bridge Isn’t Falling Down

By Idy Perl

The last few months have seen several scary incidents involving bridges, including the Baltimore Bridge collapse, a Manhattan bridge that was stuck in an open position due to the heat, and more. These frightening news stories cause people’s distrust of these massive structures to grow, and many start questioning the conditions of the bridges near them, wanting reassurance that the same thing wouldn’t happen at local bridges.

A detailed infrastructure study was published by the New York State Comptroller in the last few days, which stated that New York State invests a large amount of money every year in the ongoing maintenance of its bridges. In 2023, the estimated total cost for the upkeep of all New York bridges was close to $29 billion. Approximately $19.1 billion of that was just for bridges in New York City, where some of the oldest and largest bridges are located.

The report also studied the number of bridges in each county that are rated in poor condition. Rockland County was near the bottom of the list, with only 4 out of its 83 bridges classified as being in poor condition.

The George Washington Bridge is an often-used bridge by many Rockland residents on their way to Manhattan or Brooklyn. It has been standing since 1931 and is part of the 59.7% of NYC bridges that were built before 1949. It is also the world's busiest vehicle bridge, with approximately 100 million vehicles crossing it each year.

 The bridge has several safety features to prevent large-scale accidents from happening. It is also halfway through a 10 year $2 billion “Restoring the George” renewal project that is replacing and repairing many aspects of the bridge so that it can safely reach its upcoming 100^th birthday.