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Construction of the Brady Street Bridge
1975/1977
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Title
Construction of the Brady Street Bridge
Identifier
MSP285.B009.F24.I01
Source Identifier
MSP285.B009.F24.I01
Description
The Brady Street Bridge, known today as the Birmingham Bridge, spans the Monongahela River at South Twenty-Second Street. That original bridge was the first toll free river crossing in Pittsburgh and served to connect the north shore to the south shore of the Monongahela River. The $23 million Birmingham Bridge was built by Buchart Horn Inc. and opened to traffic on September 2, 1977. The total length (including the longest elevated ramp) of the bridge is 1,662 feet with a vertical clearance of 64.8 feet at the channel span. The South Side neighborhood of Pittsburgh had been without its major access route to Downtown Pittsburgh and Oakland since May 1, 1976, when the 80-year-old Brady Street Bridge was closed permanently. Once completed, the new six-lane bridge was expected to accommodate 23,500 vehicles a day in 1977. The old bridge was carrying 12,500 vehicles a day when it closed. The superstructure of the old Brady Street Bridge was blasted down using explosives on May 30, 1978. The contractors in charge of the demolition bungled the project when the superstructure blocked the Monongahela navigational channel for 12 days.
Genre
photographs
Subject
Brady Street Bridge (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
Birmingham Bridge (Pittsburgh,Pa.)
Bridges--Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh.
Monongahela River (W. Va. and Pa.)
Bridge construction--Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh.
Source
Allegheny Conference on Community Development Photographs, 1892-1981, MSP 285, Library and Archives Division, Senator John Heinz History Center
Contributor
Detre Library & Archives, Heinz History Center
Collection
Allegheny Conference on Community Development Photographs
Rights Information
Copyright Not Evaluated. The copyright and related rights status of this Item has not been evaluated. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use.
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/