TRAVEL THEME: BRIDGES

THE SMITHFIELD STREET BRIDGE

The Smithfield Street bridge (1883) is considered by most to be Pittsburgh’s most historically significant bridge for several reasons: 1) it replaced two bridge structures by well-known bridge engineers, Lewis Wernwag and John A. Roebling (creator of the Brooklyn Bridge); 2) it was the first American use of the lenticular (lens-shaped) truss design; and 3) it was one of the first major bridges in the US built primarily with steel, and is probably the oldest extant major steel truss remaining. The graceful Smithfield Street Bridge is also the oldest remaining river bridge in Allegheny County and has been designated a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

THE ROBERTO CLEMENTE BRIDGE

The Sixth Street Bridge, renamed the Roberto Clemente Bridge in 1999, is one of three identical “sister” bridges built across the Allegheny River, connecting Pittsburgh to the North Shore. It, like most downtown Pittsburgh river bridges, is painted golden-yellow (the official city colors are Black and Gold).

FORT PITT BRIDGE

Proclaimed “the only city in America with an entrance” by the New York Times, the spectacular skyline and rivers of Pittsburgh seem to explode as you emerge from the city’s primary southern entrance, the Fort Pitt Tunnel, and onto the Fort Pitt Bridge. Built in 1959, the Fort Pitt Bridge connects downtown Pittsburgh to/from I-279 via the Fort Pitt Tunnels.

BRIDGES OF THE MONONGAHELA RIVER

Bridges spanning the Monongahela River from Station Square and the South Side to downtown Pittsburgh, include the historic Smithfield Street Bridge (1881), the Panhandle RR Bridge (1903), the Liberty Bridge (1928), the South 10th Street Bridge (1921), the Birmingham Bridge (1977) and, near the horizon, the twin black spans of the Hot Metal Bridge (1877) and Mon Con RR Bridge (1877).

SMOLEN-GULF COVERED BRIDGE

The Smolen–Gulf Bridge is a covered bridge which carries State Road (Ashtabula County Road 25) across the Ashtabula River at the Plymouthand Ashtabula Township line in northern Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States.

At 613 feet (182.9 meters), it is the longest covered bridge in the United States – a title formerly held by the Cornish–Windsor Covered Bridge in New Hampshire – and the fourth longest covered bridge in the world. The bridge, one of 17 drivable covered bridges in the county, was designed by John Smolen, former Ashtabula County Engineer when the idea of bridging the Ashtabula River Gulf with a wooden structure was first conceived in 1995.

In the below video you will see other bridges my camera lens has captured as I journey through my retirement years.