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Sister Bridge I: Roberto Clemente Bridge

Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
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Roberto Clemente Bridge

End View

Photo taken by Brian McKee in January 2009

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Street View 

Description 

The bridge represents an adaptive engineering design response to political and technical concerns. County engineers successfully maneuvered around Federally-mandated clearances, aesthetic and financial considerations raised by local agencies, and the lack of adequate anchorage points along the river banks. The structures are the only trio of nearly identical bridges and among the few surviving examples of large eyebar suspension bridges in the U.S. They were the first self-anchored suspension bridges built in this county...

-- Historic American Engineering Record

View Uglybridges.com report

Facts 

Overview
Suspension bridge over Allegheny River on Sixth Street in Pittsburgh
Location
Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1928; rehabilitated 1995
Builders
- American Bridge Co. of New York (Superstructure)
- New York Foundation Co. of New York (Substructure)
Design
Self-anchored eyebar suspension
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 430.1 ft.
Total length: 995.1 ft.
Deck width: 38.1 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 15.6 ft.
Recognition
Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on January 7, 1986
Also called
Sixth Street Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+40.45333, -79.98833   (decimal degrees)
40°27'12" N, 79°59'18" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
17/585782/4478566 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map
Pittsburgh East
Inventory numbers
PA 02 7301 0000 2012 (Pennsylvania Bridge Management System number)
NRHP 86000017 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
PANBI 02381 (Pennsylvania BRKEY bridge number on the 2011 NBI)
BH 30307 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection (as of 05/2009)
Deck condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Appraisal: Functionally obsolete
Sufficiency rating: 56.3 (out of 100)
Average daily traffic (as of 2005)
12,824

Categories 

Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (192)
Allegheny River (38)
American Bridge Co. (449)
Built 1928 (805)
Built during 1920s (7,031)
Eyebar suspension (9)
Functionally obsolete (7,035)
HAER documented (781)
Have street view (9,883)
Historic Bridge Weekend 2009 (19)
 NR-listed (2,353)
Navigable waterway (1,448)
New York Foundation Co. (6)
Open (28,304)
Pennsylvania (3,037)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (57)
Span length 250-500 feet (863)
Suspension (278)
Total length 500-1000 feet (1,805)

Update Log 

  • March 24, 2012: HAER photos posted by Jason Smith
  • November 18, 2010: New photos from Jason Smith
  • November 15, 2010: New photos from Jason Smith
  • November 14, 2010: Updated by Jason Smith: Changed the name of the bridge
  • January 6, 2009: Updated by Ian Anderson: This and the 7th Street Bridge are actually self-anchored eyebar suspension bridges
  • January 4, 2009: Updated by Brian McKee

Sources 

  • Brian McKee - bjmckee51 [at] yahoo [dot] com
  • Ian Anderson - macsignals [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Jason Smith - JDSmith77 [at] gmx [dot] net
  • HAER PA-490-A - Three Sisters Bridges, Sixth Street Bridge, Spanning Allegheny River at Sixth Street, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, PA

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