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
- 156: Englewood Cliffs to Port Authority Bus Terminal via Sylvan Avenue and Bergenline Avenue or River Road[6]
- 158: Fort Lee to Port Authority Bus Terminal via River Road and Port Imperial Boulevard [7]
- 159: Fort Lee to Port Authority Bus Terminal via Bergenline Avenue[8]
- 171: Paterson Broadway Bus Terminal to GWB Bus Station via Route 4[9]
- 175: Ridgewood to GWB Bus Station via Route 4[10]
- 178: Hackensack Bus Terminal to GWB Bus Station[11]
- 181: Bergenline Avenue Station to GWB Bus Station via Palisade and Bergenline Avenues[12]
- 182: Hackensack Bus Terminal to GWB Bus Station[13]
- 186: Dumont to GWB Bus Station via Lemoine and Sylvan Avenues[14]
- 188: West New York to GWB Bus Station via Kennedy Boulevard[15]
- 756: Bergen Community College to Englewood Cliffs via Lemoine & Sylvan Avenues and Route 4[16]
Rockland Coaches
- 9, 9A, 9T, 9AT: GWB Bus Station to New City or Stony Point via U.S. Route 9W and Nyack[17]
Bridgegate
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
- List of tallest buildings in Fort Lee
- George Washington Bridge Bus Station (at the eastern terminus of the bridge in Manhattan)
- New Jersey Route 495, a similar highway built through a cut to access the Lincoln Tunnel
References
- ^ a b "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.
- ^ "George Washington Bridge Toll Facilities". US Department of Transportation. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
- ^ "GWB Upper Level Toll Plaza". WikiMapia.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Interstate 80 (New Jersey)". www.nycroads.com. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
- ^ NJT bus 156 schedule
- ^ NJT 158 schedule
- ^ NJT 159 schedule
- ^ NJT 171 schedule
- ^ NJT 175 schedule
- ^ NJT 178 schedule
- ^ NJT 181 schedule
- ^ NJT 182 schedule
- ^ NJT 186 schedule
- ^ NJT 188 schedule
- ^ "NJT 756 schedule" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 4, 2010. Retrieved January 24, 2010.
- ^ Rockland Coaches 9/9A schedule
- ^ 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.
- ^ Larson, Leslie (January 31, 2014). "Christie campaign seeks funds to cover Bridgegate legal costs". New York Daily News. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
- ^ "The backstory of Christie's 'Bridgegate' scandal". USA Today. January 10, 2014. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
External links
- Wikimapia GWB Upper-Level and Lower-Level Toll Plazas
- an enlarged view of road jurisdiction at the Fort Lee approaches to the George Washington Bridge
- Unofficial New Jersey bus map
- NJ Transit route finder Archived 2017-05-09 at the Wayback Machine
- NJT Bus Routes in Bergen County Archived 2009-05-22 at the Wayback Machine
- NJT Bus Routes in Hudson County Archived 2009-05-22 at the Wayback Machine
- NJT Bus Routes in Passaic County