Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation News

The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation News, Spring 2009 edition, has an article by Todd Wilson about the historic bridge crisis and what we need to do.

Two Bridge Demolitions

Davis Ave Bridge (Pittsburgh)

An engineering consultant states that HAER-Documented Davis Avenue Bridge is failing, and needs to be demolished as soon as possible. This will happen as early as April 29th, 2009. The bridge is one of only a few remaining 19th century deck cantilevers. See the Allegheny County Bridge Map for more.

Read more at: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09112/964576-100.stm

Charleroi Monessen Bridge (Washington and Westmoreland counties)

The Charleroi Monessen Bridge, linking Charleroi (Washington County) with Monessen (Westmoreland County) is scheduled to be demolished in August, 2009. Since a full restoration of the bridge is to cost the same as replacement (with minimal emergency repairs much cheaper), officials have decided to replace the National Register-Listed Bridge.

This decision will adversely affect tourism for the developing Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area. Meanwhile, the number of Western Pennsylvania National Register-Listed river crossings outside Allegheny County will drop to 3 in 2009 from 6 in 2007.

Read more at: http://www.observer-reporter.com/OR/Story/04-17-Charleroi-Bridge-Work

Do tourists come to the bridge? Yes. Join many others throughout the country in visiting the bridge prior to its demolition on July 11th as part of the Historic Bridge Weekend (details on this site). Too bad that tourists will stop coming once the bridge is gone.

Is there an economically-feasible alternative to demolition? Sure. Perform emergency repairs and get the bridge reopened to traffic much sooner. Within the next few years build a new bridge in a different location, as well as infrastructure improvements to stimulate business. Once the new bridge is open, convert the historic bridge to a pedestrian-only bridge, historic site, and tourist attraction. Since it costs money to tear down a bridge, use that money to maintain it. Give people a reason to get off I-70 and into Charleroi or Monessen, as they are doing now!

Allegheny County Content Update

Allegheny County content has now been added to the site!

The site has been upgraded to a new version of Map Channels, and is now compatible with both Internet Explorer and Firefox. With this new version of Map Channels, bridges can be displayed using Google Maps, Google Street View, and Microsoft Virtual Earth (including Bird's Eye imagery).