Smithfield Street Bridge

Smithfield Street Bridge
Smithfield Street Bridge
Carries	4 lanes of roadway 2 pedestrian walkways
Crosses	Monongahela River
Locale	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Design	Lenticular truss bridge
Total length	1,184 feet (361 m)
Longest span	2 spans, 360 feet (110 m) each
Clearance below	42.5 feet (13.0 m)
Opened	1883

Smithfield Street Bridge
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Location:	Smithfield St. at the Monongahela River, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Coordinates:	40°26′5″N 80°0′8″W
Area:	1 acre (0.40 ha)
Built:	1883
Architectural style:	Other, Romanesque, Pauli truss
Governing body:	State
NRHP Reference#:	74001745
Added to NRHP:	March 21, 1974

The Smithfield Street Bridge is a lenticular truss bridge crossing the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.

The bridge was designed by Gustav Lindenthal, the engineer who later designed the Hell Gate Bridge. The bridge was built between 1881–83, opening for traffic on March 19, 1883. It was widened in 1889 and widened again in 1911. The bridge has been designated a National Historic Civic Engineering Landmark, a National Historic Landmark, and has a Historic Landmark Plaque from the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation.

History

The present bridge is the third bridge at the site and remains the oldest steel bridge in the United States. In 1818, a wooden bridge was built across the Monongahela by Louis Wernwag at a cost of $102,000. This bridge was destroyed in Pittsburgh's Great Fire of 1845. The second bridge on the site was a wire rope suspension bridge built by John A. Roebling. Increases in both bridge traffic and river traffic eventually made the lightly built bridge with eight short spans inadequate. The present Lindenthal bridge was built in its place, using the Roebling bridge's stone masonry piers.

The Smithfield Street bridge is the second-to-last of the many bridges which span the Monongahela before the river joins with the Allegheny River to form the Ohio River at Downtown Pittsburgh. The Fort Pitt Bridge is further downstream of it.

The bridge also served the Pittsburgh Railways streetcar system with a rail line that continued on a loop from the Mt. Washington Transit Tunnel through downtown on Wood Street, Grant Street and Liberty Avenue. The streetcar rail line was abandoned July 3, 1985, when the streetcars were diverted to the Panhandle Bridge and the new light rail subway.

The bridge's short clearance from the river as well as its deteriorated condition convinced PennDOT officials to demolish the bridge and to replace it with a modern bridge. Lobbying by Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation on the merits of preserving the bridge were considered by officials. In 1994-1995 the bridge was rehabilitated with a new deck, a colorful paint scheme, and architectural lighting. The abandoned rail lines became an extra traffic lane and there was an addition of a light-controlled bus lane which is activated during peak traffic hours. The bridge also has the distinction of being the most heavily walked pedestrian bridge, mostly commuters that park at Station Square.

The bridge connects Smithfield Street in Downtown Pittsburgh with Station Square.

Image gallery

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  Detail of the ironwork on the Smithfield Street bridge, looking south.

• 

  The Smithfield Bridge at dusk

• 

  Detail

Popular Culture

The bridge is featured in the 1993 Bruce Willis film Striking Distance and the 2010 rap video Black and yellow.

External links

• Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. PA-2, "Smithfield Street Bridge"
• Smithfield Street Bridge on pghbridges.com
• American Society of Civil Engineers on Smithfield Street Bridge
• Historical photos of the bridge from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
• A collection of contemporary photos of the bridge
• Smithfield Street Bridge (1846) at Structurae
• Smithfield Street Bridge (1883) at Structurae

See also

• List of crossings of the Monongahela River