George Washington Bridge Plaza
Bridge Plaza
View looking east to the bridge, south of which is Fort Lee Historic Park, contiguous with Palisades Interstate Park.
Location
Fort Lee, Bergen County, New Jersey
Coordinates40°51′18″N 73°58′08″W / 40.855°N 73.969°W / 40.855; -73.969
Roads at
junction		 I-95 / N.J. Turnpike
US 1-9 / US 46
US 9W
Route 67

Route 4

Palisades Parkway
Construction
TypeInterchange and transit hub
Opened1931 (1931)
Maintained byPort Authority of New York and New Jersey[1]
Looking northeast over highways to GWB
A view of the district looking west

The George Washington Bridge Plaza, also known as GWB Plaza or Bridge Plaza, is the convergence of roads and highways around the George Washington Bridge toll plaza in Fort Lee, New Jersey, United States.[2] The plaza is located north of and parallel to Fort Lee's Main Street. The surrounding busy area is characterized by a mix of commercial and residential uses and an architectural variety that includes parking lots, strip malls, houses, gas stations, mid-rise office buildings and high-rise condominiums. Just to the east is Fort Lee Historic Park, Palisades Interstate Park and the bridge's western tower.

Roadways

The series of streets overlooks the lower vehicular cut through the Hudson Palisades where several major roads converge for the toll plazas[3] for the Hudson River crossing. The four streets that bridge the cut are, from west to east, Fletcher Avenue (U.S. Route 9W), Linwood Avenue, Center Avenue, and Lemoine Avenue (New Jersey Route 67). Through the cut runs Interstate 95 which also carries the designations of U.S. Route 1/9 and U.S. Route 46. The legal terminus of the New Jersey Turnpike is at the Fletcher Avenue overpass.

The cut and I-95 are flanked by service roads. On the southern end, Bruce Reynolds Boulevard (also known as Bridge Plaza South) carries eastbound traffic from Fletcher Avenue and I-95's exit 73 off-ramp to Center Avenue and two-way traffic from there east to Hudson Terrace. It also provides access to and from both the northbound upper and lower level roadways of I-95 via exit 74. The northern service road, Bridge Plaza North, carries two-way traffic from Central Road to Center Avenue and westbound traffic from there west to Fletcher Avenue and a westbound on-ramp to New Jersey Route 4.

Northbound I-95 can access Bruce Reynolds Boulevard via exit 73 by way of Route 4 or the lower level roadway or exit 73 from the upper and lower level roadways. Southbound I-95 can access Bridge Plaza North via exit 73 on the upper and lower level roadways.

The expressway roads and their local street entrances/exits at Bridge Plaza under the jurisdiction of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which also manages the bridge itself.[1][4]

New Jersey Route 4, Bergen Boulevard (U.S. Route 46), and the Palisades Interstate Parkway are roads that originate in the immediate vicinity of Bridge Plaza.

Further west, other connections to the plaza via I-95 are Interstate 80, intersecting in Teaneck, and numerous state and county routes via U.S. 46 in Ridgefield.[5]

Transit hub

Bridge Plaza is a busy transit hub served by several bus lines, though there is no centralized bus station or stop. Routes operated by NJ Transit primarily connect Bergen, Hudson, and Passaic counties with Manhattan, while Rockland Coaches connect Bergen and Rockland counties with Manhattan. mostly terminating at the George Washington Bridge Bus Station or Port Authority Bus Terminal.

Spanish Transportation is one of many companies providing dollar van service at Bridge Plaza, primarily serving Paterson via New Jersey Route 4 and the Newport Mall via Bergenline and Anderson Avenues.

Columbia Transportation serves Fort Lee with the Fort Lee Shuttle service for students and employees, which runs from Parker Plaza (Lewis St) to Columbia University Medical Center in Manhattan. The Lamont Shuttle to/from Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory has some trips that stop at Parker Plaza.

NJ Transit

Rockland Coaches

Bridgegate

"Bridgegate" entrance, customary three rush-hour toll lanes (20, 22, 24)

The Fort Lee lane closure scandal, also known as Bridgegate,[18][19] was a political scandal involving a staff member and political appointees of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie colluded to create traffic jams by closing entrance lanes to the bridge.[20]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "ENLARGED VIEW 2 (Leonia Borough, Fort Lee Borough and Englewood Cliffs Borough, Bergen County)" (PDF). New Jersey Department of Transportation. June 2009. Retrieved January 28, 2014.
  2. ↑ "George Washington Bridge Toll Facilities". US Department of Transportation. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
  3. ↑ "GWB Upper Level Toll Plaza". WikiMapia.
  4. ↑ "Port Authority And Fort Lee Commit $30 Million To Alleviate Congestion Around George Washington Bridge" (Press release). Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. September 15, 2003. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
  5. ↑ "Interstate 80 (New Jersey)". www.nycroads.com. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  6. ↑ NJT bus 156 schedule
  7. ↑ NJT 158 schedule
  8. ↑ NJT 159 schedule
  9. ↑ NJT 171 schedule
  10. ↑ NJT 175 schedule
  11. ↑ NJT 178 schedule
  12. ↑ NJT 181 schedule
  13. ↑ NJT 182 schedule
  14. ↑ NJT 186 schedule
  15. ↑ NJT 188 schedule
  16. ↑ "NJT 756 schedule" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 4, 2010. Retrieved January 24, 2010.
  17. ↑ Rockland Coaches 9/9A schedule
  18. ↑ Bruinius, Harry (January 31, 2014). "Bridge-gate: Key figure says Chris Christie knew about lane closures (+video)". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
  19. ↑ Larson, Leslie (January 31, 2014). "Christie campaign seeks funds to cover Bridgegate legal costs". New York Daily News. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
  20. ↑ "The backstory of Christie's 'Bridgegate' scandal". USA Today. January 10, 2014. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
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