A City of Bridges

This year Pittsburgh celebrates its 250th Anniversary. It’s a city steeped in tradition, historical significance, work ethic, and of course, its sports teams.

It’s also a city with a magnificent panorama that can be viewed from many vantage points. When one takes in one of the many views of Pittsburgh, one can hardly miss seeing and taking notice of the many bridges. So many bridges in fact that it easily has more bridges than any other city in the United States. The exact number can vary depending upon which report or story you refer to, but most will agree that Pittsburgh has more bridges than any other place in America, and second in the world probably only to Venice, Italy.

Described several years ago in an article, the New York Times called Pittsburgh “the only city with an entrance.” The spectacular skyline and rivers and bridges of the city just explode as one emerges from the Fort Pitt Tunnel and onto the Fort Pitt Bridge which connects downtown.

This month’s cover features the Sixth Street Bridge, renamed the Roberto Clemente Bridge in 1999. It’s one of three identical “sister” bridges that connects downtown to the North Shore across the Allegheny River. These three bridges are supposedly the only identical trio of bridges in the United States. All three replaced existing bridges, but the story of the Clemente or Sixth Street Bridge is really interesting. It seems the original bridge burned in the late 1800s because the sparrows nests in the beams caught fire from the steamboat smokestacks.

The Seventh and Ninth Street Bridges were also recently renamed for prominent area residents: Andy Warhol Bridge and Rachel Carson Bridge.

Most of the downtown bridges are Aztec Gold, either constructed as such or painted so afterwards in order to match the city’s official colors of black and gold. A few exceptions to this rule would include the Hot Metal Bridge which stood dormant till 2000 when it was reopened to connect South Side and Oakland across the Monongahela River.

I’ve heard it said, that besides Venice and Pittsburgh, that Hamburg, Germany and Paris, France also challenge as having the most bridges in the world. Maybe. Who knows for certain.

But with Pittsburgh’s three major rivers, countless hills and valleys and ravines and bluffs, besides the City of Steel, it’s also a City of Bridges.

And as Paul Harvey might say, ‘Now you know the rest of the story.’

A. Robert Scott
Publisher/Owner

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