The Bear Mountain Bridge spans the Hudson River between Fort Montgomery, New York on the west and the mountain known as "Anthony's Nose" on the east, near Peekskill, New York. The bridge has a main span of 498 m (1632 ft), the longest in the world when it was completed in 1924. The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 23, 1982. The main parallel wire cables were inspected in depth in 1991, 1995, and 1997, during which cracked and broken wires were observed. As a result of the findings, it was decided to completely unwrap, oil and rewrap the cables for their full lengths. This was begun in 2000 and completed in 2002. During the oiling, it was found that broken wires were slipping at the southwest backstay due to the absence of cable bands. Work was temporarily halted while clamping bands were fabricated and installed. An acoustic monitoring system was also installed on this backstay and remains in service. During the oiling, every panel was wedged and inspected and conditions of the wires were recorded for the entire length. The remaining strength and resulting safety factors were computed for each panel. All of this work was performed under the direction of the author.
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