The Bear Mountain Bridge, ceremonially named the Purple Heart Veterans Memorial Bridge, is a toll suspension bridge in New York State. It carries US 6 and US 202 across the Hudson River between Bear Mountain State Park in Orange County and Cortlandt in Westchester County. At completion in 1924 it was the longest suspension bridge in the world until this record was surpassed 19 months later by the Benjamin Franklin Bridge between Philadelphia and Camden, New Jersey. Like the Williamsburg Bridge in New York City, the approach spans of the Bear Mountain Bridge are unsuspended; only its main span is suspended by cables.
Bear Mountain Bridge in 2022
Aerial view in 1925
Bear Mountain Bridge in 2009
Looking east
A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridges, which lack vertical suspenders, have a long history in many mountainous parts of the world.
The 1915 Çanakkale Bridge on the Dardanelles strait in Turkey, connecting Europe and Asia, is the longest suspension bridge in the world.
The double-decked George Washington Bridge, connecting New York City to Bergen County, New Jersey, is the world's busiest suspension bridge, carrying 106 million vehicles annually.
Chushul Chakzam, one of Thangtong Gyalpo's chain bridges, in 1904
The wooden 1808 Burr Suspension Bridge in Schenectady, NY, USA, during demolition in 1871, showing wooden cables. Spans of 160, 190, 180 and 157 feet on 3 piers began to sag, and 4 supporting piers were added in 1833 making 8 spans.
