Safety for the hundreds of thousands of passengers using the world’s busiest motor vehicular bridge

Biennial Inspection of the George Washington Bridge - Main Span Upper Level

Performing the Biennial Inspection of the Main Span Upper Level of the George Washington Bridge, connecting New York and New Jersey, was as important as it was complex. The main span and side spans of the suspension bridge carry eight lanes of roadway traffic on the upper level, and the upper level also supports sidewalks along each side of the bridge.

During these inspections, our teams cover the bridge deck, cables, towers, and anchorage chambers—basically every aspect of what holds the bridge together—to ensure that everything is functional and in good shape. The areas inside the anchorage chambers, the cables and the steel towers, which are up to 604 feet above the river, are inspected by walking, climbing, and using extension ladders.

The teams also inspect the stringer-floorbeam system of the upper level roadway. The inspection of the underside of the upper roadway for the suspended spans and the adjacent spans over the New York anchorage must to be performed from the lower roadway utilizing lift trucks of various heights. Because of this, and the desire to minimize disruption of facility users, the most recent inspection was performed at night when the lower roadway was closed for other construction activities on the bridge.