Bear Mountain Bridge
bridge in United States of America
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 Rockland and 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 (between the towers) is suspended by cables.
The span enables connections between the Palisades Interstate Parkway and US 9W on the west bank near Bear Mountain and NY 9D on the east bank as well as US 9 and the Bear Mountain Parkway farther east. It also carries the Appalachian Trail and New York State Bicycle Route 9 across the Hudson.
The bridge has two undivided vehicle lanes flanked by sidewalks. Cyclists may ride with motor vehicle traffic or walk their bikes on the sidewalks.
History
Hudson Highland Suspension Bridge
Plans for a bridge at the site began with the charter of the Hudson Highland Suspension Bridge Company in 1868 after a bill was passed by the legislature and signed by Governor Fenton. Early investors in the company included Erastus Corning, Isaac Bell, and Addison P. Jones.
“Bear Mountain Bridge” enters the record as bridge in United States of America. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Bear, Mountain and Bridge can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Bear Mountain Bridge” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Bear, Mountain and Bridge provides the most credible route into that argument.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q813002. Authority coordinates are 41.320, -73.980. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1924 and 1868.
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This entry incorporates text from “Bear Mountain Bridge” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.