Roberto Clemente Bridge

Roberto Clemente Bridge
Sixth Street Bridge
Suspension bridge
The Bridge with PNC Park in the background.
Official name: Roberto Clemente Bridge
Named for: Roberto Clemente
Country	United States
State	Pennsylvania
County	Allegheny
Municipality	Pittsburgh
Road	Sixth Street 2 lanes
- Sidewalks	Each side
Crosses	Allegheny River
Coordinates	40°26′44.1594″N 80°0′11.8794″W
Length	884 ft (269 m)
- Main span	430 ft (131 m)
- Side spans	430 ft (131 m)
Clearance	78 ft (24 m)
- Navigational	40.1 ft (12 m)
Number of spans	3
Design	Self-anchored suspension
Material	Steel
Location of the Roberto Clemente Bridge in Pennsylvania
Location of Pennsylvania in the United States
Wikimedia Commons: Roberto Clemente Bridge

The Roberto Clemente Bridge, also known as the Sixth Street Bridge, spans the Allegheny River in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.

Named for the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball player Roberto Clemente, it is one of three parallel bridges called The Three Sisters, the others being the Rachel Carson Bridge and the Andy Warhol Bridge. The Three Sisters are self-anchored suspension bridges and are significant because they are the only trio of nearly identical bridges—as well as the first self-anchored suspension spans—built in the United States.

The Sixth Street Bridge's piers were built with arched openings beneath the river bed in order to accommodate future subway tunnels, following the recommendation of transportation planner Bion J. Arnold. The North Shore Connector tunnels under construction in 2009 did not make use of this provision, but were bored further west (downstream) and do not pass beneath the bridge.

The bridge was renamed on August 6, 1998 as part of a compromise after the Pirates sold the naming rights to PNC Park to locally-based PNC Financial Services. Before the naming rights were sold, there was hugely popular sentiment in Pittsburgh to name the park itself after Clemente.

It is closed to vehicular traffic on Pirates' and Steelers' game days, providing a pedestrian route to PNC Park and Heinz Field. When PNC Park was built, a statue of Roberto Clemente, originally erected at Three Rivers Stadium, was placed at the southeast corner of the park, right at the north anchorage of the Roberto Clemente Bridge.

The Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation in cooperation with the Riverlife Task Force, the City of Pittsburgh, and Duquesne Light Company, funded and managed the architectural lighting of the bridge. On November 20, 2002, the bridge was lit for the first time.

Plaque on the North Shore of the Sixth Street Bridge.

See also

• List of crossings of the Allegheny River

References

• Johanna A. Pro (1999). Clemente Bridge Dedication: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved April 23, 2006.

External links

• Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. PA-490-A, "Three Sisters Bridges, Sixth Street Bridge"
• Roberto Clemente Bridge at Structurae
• entry at pghbridges.com
• entry at BridgeMeister.com