Bear Mountain Bridge

The Bear Mountain Bridge, also called the Purple Heart Veterans Memorial Bridge, was opened in 1924. It was the first suspension bridge with a concrete deck, and the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time of its construction. This bridge was also the southernmost bridge to cross the Hudson River.

The construction of the Bear Mountain Bridge is frequently though of as the beginning of the golden age of long span bridge building. The success of methods implemented here paved the way for other major bridges, such as the George Washington and Golden Gate bridges.

The idea to cross the Hudson River at this location dates all the way back to 1868, when the Hudson Highland Suspension Bridge Company was formed. The original plan called for the construction of a suspension bridge to facilitate the transpiration of coal and iron from New York and Pennsylvania to New England. The bridge would have railway tracks on the upper level and a roadway on the lower level. The plan called for construction to begin in June of 1871, and be completer by 1875. However, the complex terrain and the challenging task of building the necessary infrastructure to access the bridge site caused significant delays. By 1873 surveys had been completed, but no construction had been done. Financial difficulties brought about by the Long Depression and stock market crashes in 1873 and 1893 delayed the project even more. Construction began again in 1887, but the progress was very slow. By 1889, only one of the anchor pits had been completed. The bridge project failed to materialize, and the charter for construction lapsed in 1916. Despite years of preparation and investment, the project only managed to complete some foundation preparations without any significant progress toward the construction of the bridge

In February of 1922, the Bear Mountain Hudson River Bridge Company was formed as a private entity to build and maintain the bridge. They were given 3 years to construct the bridge and approaches, and were to operate the bridge for a 35 year period. After that, New York State would assume responsibility for the bridge. However, there was an option for NYS to take over the bridge at an earlier time, and the New York State Bridge Authority purchased the bridge on September 26, 1940.

One unique feature of the bridge is that the approach spans are supported by the truss, not suspender cables, which is not typical in parallel wire cable suspension bridges. Another interesting fact is that Washington Roebling, the famous engineer responsible for building the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883 and the owner of Roebling Wire Company, came out of retirement to oversee the manufacturing of the wire for the Bear Mountain Bridge’s cables.

If you look closely at the southwest approach cables, you can actually see what looks like a second set of cables underneath the main cables. These are actually bridge monitoring cables, which contain strain gages. These were installed after bridge engineers learned that the main suspension cables were shedding load. The gauges provide real time data and assist with long-term monitoring of the bridge.