page_title: George Washington Bridge
section_title: Other incidents
hierarchical_section_title: George Washington Bridge / Incidents / Other incidents
caption_attribution_description: English: Looking east at the George Washington Bridge, spanning the Hudson River between New York City and New Jersey.View from top of New Jersey Tower to New York Tower.
context_page_description: The George Washington Bridge is a double-decked suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting the New York City borough of Manhattan with the New Jersey borough of Fort Lee. The bridge is named after George Washington, the first president of the United States. The George Washington Bridge is the world's busiest motor vehicle bridge, carrying over 103 million vehicles per year in 2016. It is owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, a bi-state government agency that operates infrastructure in the Port of New York and New Jersey. The George Washington Bridge is also informally known as the GW Bridge, the GWB, the GW, or the George, and was known as the Fort Lee Bridge or Hudson River Bridge during construction.
  The idea of a bridge across the Hudson River was first proposed in 1906, but it was not until 1925 that the state legislatures of New York and New Jersey voted to allow for the planning and construction of such a bridge. Construction on the George Washington Bridge started in October 1927; the bridge was ceremonially dedicated on October 24, 1931, and opened to traffic the next day.
context_section_description: On December 28, 1966, a 19-year-old pilot made an emergency landing on the bridge's New Jersey side after his plane's engine failed. There were no deaths reported, because there was very little traffic at the time, but the pilot and his passenger were injured. At the time, there was no median barrier on the bridge's upper deck.
  In June 1977, two tractor-trailers nearly fell off the lower level after jackknifing, then going through both the roadway barrier and a mesh net next to the roadway. One of the drivers was hurt slightly, while the other driver was not hurt. The accident also involved a third tractor-trailer and two passenger cars, none of whose occupants were hurt. Accidents involving trucks dumping their cargo have also occurred on the George Washington Bridge. Watermelons, frozen chicken parts, and horse manure have all fallen onto the bridge's roadway at some point.
  The first-ever complete closure of the George Washington Bridge occurred on August 6, 1980, when a truck carrying highly flammable propane gas across the bridge started to leak.  As a safety precaution in case the fuel started to ignite, traffic across the bridge was halted for several hours, and 2,000 people living near the bridge were evacuated. Since the George Washington Bridge is the primary crossing between New Jersey and New York City, the closure caused traffic jams that stretched for up to 30 miles, and the effects of this congestion could be seen more than 45 miles away. Two police officers eventually plugged the leak with an inexpensive device. Up to that point, trucks carrying flammable material had been allowed to use the George Washington Bridge. After the incident, New York City officials conducted a study on whether to prohibit hazardous cargo from traveling through the city.
caption: The bridge seen in 1978
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