The Five Boro Bike Tour included two crossings over iconic bridges and waterways -the Queensboro over the East River and Verranzano of the Narrows of New York Bay. I added another one the day before – the George Washington Bridge (Port Authority of NY-NJ) over the Hudson River.

Another notch in the belt

Crossing major rivers and bridges a cyclist or pedestrian is fun. I bicycle across the Potomac and Anacostia rivers regularly. I have even crossed the Charles, Chicago and Susquehanna rivers on two wheels previous previously. I walked across the Golden Gate Bridge (some of it at least) and the entirety of the Brooklyn Bridge. The GWB was an obvious one to check off.

Pedaling up the Hudson River Greenway which is part of Empire State Trail, getting to the GWB is a steep, serpentine climb. It’s no surprise since the Hudson is sea level and the bridge span is as high as 212 feet above the water. The path crosses over the Henry Hudson Parkway and onto upper Manhattan streets. The Northwalk entrance is a gateway with more hairpin turns to enter the main span.

The Northwalk never feels too steep and had high fences that are comforting. It’s quite a contrast to say, the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge over the Potomac or the Ben Franklin over the Delaware. The path is fairly wide, though the suspender cables narrow it, but they were manageable on a May Saturday afternoon. There is very little grade as well – the palisades on either side informed where the bridge was built.

Signage and wayfinding is good as well.

The Southwalk is currently closed for suspender ropes replacement.

Video – crossing from NJ to NY

Map

Unfortunately, Google Maps does not include the cycling layer in embeds

Other thoughts

• I stopped for a snack at Break Away Cafe which is also a bike shop.
• This is the second river/bridge I’ve biked across that’s part of Interstate 95 – the other being the Wilson Bridge between Alexandria and Oxon Hill. That one actually has more grade changes on the bridge itself.
• It’s also the second major river/bridge I have biked across on US 1 – the 14th Street Bridge between Arlington and D.C.
• I did not explore Fort Lee after crossing over, beyond seeing what the Southwalk entrance looked like.
• Rivers I have biked across:
  • Potomac
  • Anacostia
  • Susquehanna
  • Schuykill
  • Delaware
  • Hudson
  • East
  • Charles
  • Chicago
• Someday, I would like to do a loop up to the Tappan Zee Bridge as well and along the Palisades. A recent video shared a “lower-traffic” route: