Rip Van Winkle Bridge

The Rip Van Winkle Bridge is a cantilever bridge spanning the Hudson River between Hudson, New York and Catskill, New York. The structure carries NY 23 across the river, connecting US 9W and NY 385 on the west side with NY 9G on the east side. The bridge is named after the 1819 short story of the same name by Washington Irving, which mentions Hudson and Catskill.

Crossing the bridge eastbound in the summer

Rip Van Winkle Bridge
Rip Van Winkle Bridge viewed from the Adirondack
Coordinates	42.22358°N 73.85038°W / 42.22358; -73.85038
Carries	NY 23
Locale	Hudson, New York and Catskill, New York
Maintained by	New York State Bridge Authority
Characteristics
Design	Cantilever and truss
Total length	5,040 ft (1,536.5 m)
Width	30 ft (9.1 m)
Longest span	800 ft (243.8 m)
Clearance above	K
Clearance below	145 ft (44.2 m)
History
Opened	1935 (1935)
Statistics
Daily traffic	15,000
Toll	$1.50, eastbound only
Rip Van Winkle Bridge Location in New York

The bridge includes a new pedestrian walkway which was completed in 2018 on the south side of the bridge which is open from dawn to dusk. Cyclists may use the roadway or may walk their cycles across the pedestrian walkway.

The bridge was built by the newly created New York State Bridge Authority, opening on July 2, 1935, at a cost of $2.4 million ($44,760,000 with inflation[1]). Upon its opening, the toll was $0.80 ($14.92 with inflation[1]) per passenger car and $0.10 ($1.86 with inflation[1]) per passenger up to $1 ($18.65 with inflation[1]). Originally, tolls were collected in both directions. In August 1970, the toll was abolished for westbound drivers, and at the same time, eastbound drivers saw their tolls doubled. The tolls of eleven other New York–New Jersey and Hudson River crossings along a 130-mile (210 km) stretch, from the Outerbridge Crossing in the south to the Rip Van Winkle Bridge in the north, were also changed to eastbound-only at that time.[2] The current toll for autos is $1.50 for eastbound traffic only. The bridge extends 5,040 feet (1536 m) across the river, with a ship clearance of 145 feet (44 m).

A multi-year repainting project was completed in 2009 which removed all lead-based paint.