![]() Roland Harriman, President of the Bear Mountain Hudson River Bridge Company, helped preside over the formal opening day ceremonies with the bridge being officially opened to traffic on Thanksgiving Day. On November 26, 1924, Mary Harriman, mother of Mr. The state however, did have the option to take over the bridge at an earlier time for a price specified by law. The Bear Mountain Hudson River Bridge Company would then operate the bridge for a 35 year period, after which, New York State would assume responsibility for the bridge. Under the bill’s terms, the Bear Mountain Hudson River Bridge Company was given 3 years to construct the bridge and its highway approaches on state-owned land. In February 1922, the Bear Mountain Hudson River Bridge Company, a privately financed entity, was created through a bill passed by the New York State Legislature, allowing for a vehicular bridge to be built across the Hudson at Bear Mountain. The popularity of nearby Bear Mountain State Park, which opened in 1916, led to the need for a span across the river to replace the ferryboats which could no longer accommodate the crowds and their automobiles. The success of the inventive methods used broke new ground and paved the way for the building of other suspension bridges such as the George Washington and the Golden Gate. The project of building the Bear Mountain Bridge marked the beginning of a golden age of long span bridge building along the Hudson River and throughout the New York metropolitan area. ![]() At the time it was built, it was also the longest suspension bridge in the world and the first suspended bridge to have a concrete deck. As the oldest of NYSBA’s bridges, Bear Mountain Bridge was the first vehicular river crossing between New York City and Albany.
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