The George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal is, in Europe at least, one of Pier luigi Nervi's(1891-1979)less known works(maybe because it is one of the only, or even the only structure he did outside Italy?). Finished in 1963, the commuter bus terminal is built over the Trans-Manhattan Expressway between 178th/179th Streets and Fort Washington/Wadsworth Avenues and features direct bus ramps on and off the upper level of the bridge. The genius of the Italian engineer is manifested in the huge steel-reinforced concrete trusses, fourteen of which are cantilevered from supports in the median of the Trans-Manhattan Expressway, which it straddles. The building contains murals as well as busts of George Washington(1732-1799) and Othmar Amman (1879-1965), the civil engineer who designed the bridge. Even tough Nervi is especially known for his infamous concrete 'domes' such as the one covering The Palazzetto (1958), The G.W. Bridge Bus Terminal is a marvelous piece of engineering which offers a very beautiful and simple solution for a very complex task.
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