Daily What?! The George Washington Bridge Gets Lit Up Like the Empire State Building (Sometimes)

Photo by Dark Cyanide

While it is fairly well-known that the exposed steel towers of the George Washington Bridge were not part of the original Beaux-Arts design (check out the pink granite exterior it was supposed to have), what’s not commonly known is that they get lit up, unannounced, for holidays a few times a year. A smaller-scale program like that on the Empire State Building. Yesterday, the towers were lit for President’s Day and the photographer Dark Cyanide shared us these shots he took (while almost floating away on the bed of ice).

Photo by Dark Cyanide

There are 760 light fixtures placed on the interior of the structures (380 on each tower). They were turned on for the first time on July 4th, 2000 in celebration of Independence Day. According to this well-named brochure, “George Washington Bridge Interesting Facts” by the Port Authority, the lights are “connected with seven miles of steel conduit and 31 miles of wiring.” Another events the bridge has commemorated (in different colors) is 9/11.

Photo by Dark Cyanide

Photo by Dark Cyanide

Photo by Dark Cyanide

Photo by Dark Cyanide

See more of what the George Washington Bridge could have looked like and other fantastical bridges that never came to be in NYC. Also see vintage images of 15 NYC bridges under construction.