Waxing Poetic about the GWB

If you regularly cross over the George Washington Bridge, then you know that even in a pandemic, traffic can be plentiful.

The GWB is one of the region’s most iconic structures. The span connects Fort Lee, New Jersey to Washington Heights in Manhattan. It’s become the busiest bridge in the world, with more than 100 million vehicles crossing it ever year.

Michael Aaron Rockland is a writer and professor of American Studies at Rutgers University. In his book, The George Washington Bridge: Poetry in Steel, Rockland details the bridge’s history, its longstanding rivalry with the Brooklyn Bridge and its place in American culture.

We spoke with Rockland just before the pandemic took hold in February of 2020.