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Construction of the Brady Street Bridge

1975/1977

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Construction of the Brady Street Bridge
  • 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/