History
A bridge at this location was proposed as early as 1906, but Spuyten Duyvil residents and other civic groups opposed the bridge, arguing that it would destroy the virgin forest of Inwood Hill Park and bring traffic congestion to the communities on the Bronx side of the river. Meanwhile, Robert Moses preferred the route along the Hudson River because he was able to receive the land to build the Henry Hudson Parkway at no cost and use federal labor to construct the parkway. The construction of the bridge helped open the Riverdale neighborhood to development.
The original single-deck structure was built for the Henry Hudson Parkway Authority by the American Bridge Company at a cost of $4,949,000 and opened to traffic on December 12, 1936. The upper level of the bridge was designed to be added at a later date and opened to traffic on May 7, 1938. The second deck was added an additional cost of approximately $2,000,000, after increasing toll revenues enabled its construction.
The bridge is owned by the City of New York and operated by the MTA Bridges and Tunnels, an affiliate agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. A rehabilitation project commenced in 2000 and is being carried out by Steinman, Boynton, Gronquist and Birdsall a successor firm of Robinson & Steinman, the firm that originally designed and engineered the bridge.
As of December 30, 2010, the toll changed to $4.00 in each direction, with a $1.80 discount for E-ZPass users. About 75,000 vehicles per day use the bridge. Current traffic alignment is northbound on the three-lane upper deck and southbound on the four-lane lower deck. Starting on November 10, 2012, the MTA announce that all cash lanes on the Henry Hudson Bridge will turn into cashless toll booth.
In January 2010, the MTA announced that it is planning to implement a pilot program on the Henry Hudson Bridge to phase out toll booths and use open road tolling. In January 20, 2011, this toll pilot project got underway. Drivers without E-ZPass would be sent a bill in the mail.
Read more about this topic: Henry Hudson Bridge
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