How to enter the pedestrian path of George Washington Bridge

 

How can you enter the pedestrian path of George Washington Bridge from West 178th Street, Manhattan, New York?
Once you enter this path , you won’t have any problem in arriving at the exit of Fort Lee, New Jersey, and then there is no problem of exiting at W 178th Street in Manhattan on your return walk.
Here is my summary of how to enter the path for New Yorkers and tourists.
We are going to start from the George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal located in the Fort Washington Avenue around the midpoint of 178th and 179th Streets.
Following is my simple direction from the main entrance of the Terminal.

You will go to the crossroad of Fort Washington Ave to W 178th St, then turn to the right on the 178th St and walk on the pedestrian path, cross Pinehurst Ave. and then Cabrini Blvd. After passing this Blvd, you will keep walking a few steps before you see the sign of GWB S Bridge Ped and Bike Path in the left of the Street.
Now you will make the left turn to enter the Path, which is an ascending circular one with the first gate just ahead of you, which you shoulld pass.
Be careful since it is bi-directional path for pedestrians and bicyclers, so you should stick to the right side of the path all the way.
After you make 180 degree turn in the counterclock direction, you will be right in the official domain of the GWB ped and bike path after you pass the second gate facing westward and then join the GWB Path parallel to the huge four-lane traffic road of the GWB!
Now you will keep walking westward toward the exit of Fort Lee after you pass the First and the Second Bridge Tower.
I have pictures of the path.

  I. Main Route/>
Fig 1. Main Entrance of George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal

i
Fig 2. Crossroad of Fort Washington Ave to W 178th Street


Fig 3. South Pinehurst Ave


Fig 4. Passing Cabrini Blvd


Fig 5. “South Bridge Pedestrian & Bicycle Path” Sign of Main Entrance


Fig 6. Approaching First Gate


Fig 7. Ascending and circular path approaching to the straight GWB


Fig 8. The second pedestrian gate


Fig 10. Approaching the first bridge tower


Fig 11. At this point I turned back and started to walk back toward the gates


Fig 12. Descending in the clockwise direction to the first gate


Fig 13 Back to the first gate


Fig 14 Back to the Entrance with the sign of “USE SIDEWALK”


Fig 15. Out to the 178th Street Sidewalk


Fig 16 Back to the 178th Street eastward
 

So this is the end of my short round trip to the first bridge tower from GWB bus terminal.
However I found an alternate route to reach the same GWB S Bridge Ped & Entrance from the same Bus Terminal via W 179th Street. So I went to the North Side Walk of W 179th Street toward the Cabrini Blvd. However there was no connection from the corner of Cabrini Blvd and W 179th Street. So my attempt was unsuccessful and had to return to W 178th Street route. I am going to show the unsuccessful route.

  II. Alternate Route/>
Fig 1-1. Map visualing the route via W 179th Street with an open connection


Fig 1-2. The same route appears not to be connected on this map


Fig 1-3. Crossroad of Fort Washington Ave to W 179th St


Fig 1-4. North Sidewalk of W 179th St Westward


Fig 1-5. Northwalk closed and Southwalk Entrance in 178 St


Fig 1-6. West End of W 179th Street


Fig 1-7. South End of Cabrini Blvd


Fig 1-8. Night View of Labor Day on Sep 5, 2022


Fig 1-9. GWB North Walk on Oct 19, 2022


Fig 1-10. GWB Sidewalk on Oct. 19, 2022
 

My unsuccessful attempt to enter directly from W 179 Street

I opened the map connecting the main entrance of GWB terminal to the South Ped entrance in Fig 1-1, which showed a possibility of connecting W 179 St to the South Ped entrance. So I made a trip there to the Terminal and then walked to the crossroad of Fort Washington Ave to W 179th St and then took the north side walk of W 179th Street westward until the end of the street at the corner of W 179th St and Cabrini Blvd, which means the west end of W 179th St and the south end of Cabrini Blvd. I looked up over the huge and high GWB in the direction of the Ped Path southwesterly, but realized that such a connection is impossible to be made over the height of 5 or 10 story height. Then I found a sign of NORTHWALK CLOSED-SOUTHWALK ENTRANCE IN 178 ST. So I had to turn back and then started to walk to my familiar route: W179 St-Fort Washington Ave-178 St-Pinehurst Ave-Cabrini Blvd-South Bridge Path.
Dear Readers: I wish you to enjoy your walk over this behemoth bridge, George Washington Bridge from Manhattan to Fort Lee and backward on both ways if you have any chance. It’s worth your exercise and possibly regain your young days’ ambition. Thank you for reading.

                                                                       P 30-2.MOV Kwan Ho Chung - September 23, 2022