Hudson Highland Suspension Bridge Plans for a bridge at the site began with the charter of the Hudson Highland Suspension Bridge Company in 1868 after a bill was passed by the legislature and signed by
Governor Fenton. Early investors in the company included
Erastus Corning,
Isaac Bell, and
Addison P. Jones. In 1887, reports said the bridge would be finished in two years. By 1889, "work on the anchor pits was progressing rapidly." On March 5, 1896, the Hudson Highland Bridge and Railway Company filed for incorporation with capital of $84,900. The company was a reorganization of the former Hudson Suspension Bridge and New England Railway Company. None of these attempts to build the bridge were successful, with only foundation preparations having progress made.
Bear Mountain Hudson River Bridge Company In March 1922 through a bill introduced by
C. Ernest Smith, the state legislature authorized creation of the private Bear Mountain Hudson River Bridge Company to complete the project. The bridge was now for automobiles instead of rail, and included a approach road from the Albany Post Road north of Peekskill. The 11-member board of directors included financiers
E. Roland Harriman and
George W. Perkins. Under the 1922 charter, ownership of the bridge was to revert by 1962 to New York State, which also had the right to acquire the bridge at any time. A $4.5 million bond issue was completed in April of that year through the Harriman banking and brokerage firm.
Completion When the bridge formally opened on November 27, 1924, it was the
longest suspension bridge span in the world, and the first of its type to have a
concrete deck. It was the first automobile bridge to cross the Hudson south of
Albany, and surpassed the 1888
Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge as the southernmost crossing of the river. Construction methods pioneered on the Bear Mountain Bridge influenced much larger projects to follow, including the
George Washington (1931) and
Golden Gate (1937) bridges. Completion also inspired the state to extend the
Bronx River Parkway from
Kensico Dam northward, work which evolved into the
Bear Mountain Parkway and the first phase of the
Taconic State Parkway.
New York State Bridge Authority Ownership was transferred to the
New York State Bridge Authority on September 26, 1940, and the toll was reduced to a flat rate of 50 cents per automobile. Originally, tolls were collected in both directions. In August 1970, the toll was abolished for westbound drivers, and at the same time, eastbound drivers saw their tolls doubled. The tolls of eleven other New York–New Jersey and Hudson River crossings along a stretch, from the
Outerbridge Crossing in the south to the
Rip Van Winkle Bridge in the north, were also changed to eastbound-only at that time. In 1982 the bridge and its then-abandoned original toll house several miles away on the Peekskill approach road, Routes 6 and 202, were added to the
National Register of Historic Places. Tolls are collected from eastbound travelers only. At midnight on October 1, 2021, the bridge was converted to all-electronic tolling and only in the eastbound direction. Motorists can use their E-ZPass to pay the toll. Those without E-ZPass are sent a bill in the mail.
Maintenance innovation The Bridge was used to test several new materials designed to lower the cost and environmental impact of bridge cable maintenance. One of them proved promising. During routine inspections, bridge cables are unwrapped and wedges are used to separate the individual strands. Inspectors look for signs of moisture and corrosion throughout the cable. For over 100 years, a
red lead paste was used to seal the strands against moisture intrusion. In addition to emerging as an
environmental hazard during that span, the paste was also prone to drying out and cracking after a few years, creating an ongoing maintenance task. In the 1990s engineers experimented with several materials on a small section of the cables of the Bear Mountain Bridge. After a year the test areas were reexamined and one
polymer-based, non-toxic paste was found to be superior. The bridge cables were then rewrapped in 2000 using the material. Seven years later the cables were found to be free of additional moisture or corrosion. New York State Bridge Authority chief engineer William Moreau expressed hope that the new material may lengthen the life of the cables, and lower the need for inspection and maintenance. ==Gallery==