Rating:
9 votes

Smithfield Street Bridge

Allegheny County, Pennsylvania

Photos 

Overview

Bridge repainted in original colors in 1995.

Photo taken by Rick Mattioni in July 2000

Enlarge

BH Photo #125661

Map 

Street View 

View Uglybridges.com report

Facts 

Overview
Two-span lenticular through truss bridge over Monongahela River on Smithfield Street in Pittsburgh
Location
Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Status
Open to four lanes of traffic
History
Built 1883 under the direction of engineer Gustav Lindenthal
Builders
- Gustav Lindenthal of Brno, Cisleithania, Austro-Hungarian Empire (Now known as Brno, South Moravia, Czech Republic)
- Lucius Engineering Co. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Builder of pony approach span)
Railroads
- Pittsburgh Railways (PRCo)
- Port Authority of Allegheny County (PAT)
- Streetcar
Design
Lenticular through truss
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 359.9 ft.
Total length: 1,176.9 ft.
Deck width: 42.0 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 17.0 ft.
Recognition
Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on March 21, 1974
Also called
"Kissing Fish" Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+40.43486, -80.00200   (decimal degrees)
40°26'05" N, 80°00'07" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
17/584646/4476502 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Pittsburgh West
Inventory numbers
PA 02 3027 0020 0000 (Pennsylvania Bridge Management System number)
NRHP 74001745 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
PANBI 01742 (Pennsylvania BRKEY bridge number on the 2011 NBI)
BH 30308 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection (as of 07/2009)
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: 49.9 (out of 100)
Average daily traffic (as of 2010)
6,401

Categories 

19th Century (6,156)
Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (284)
Built 1883 (128)
Built during 1880s (1,638)
Functionally obsolete (7,949)
Gustav Lindenthal (13)
HAER documented (1,096)
Have street view (21,905)
Historic Bridge Weekend 2009 (19)
Historic Civil Engineering Landmark (45)
Lenticular through truss (58)
Lenticular truss (123)
Lucius Engineering Co. (2)
Monongahela River (42)
NR-listed (2,841)
National Historic Landmark (16)
Navigable waterway (1,998)
Open (36,418)
 Owned by state (13,580)
Pennsylvania (4,048)
Pin-connected (3,177)
Pittsburgh Railways (9)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (100)
Polygonal Warren pony truss with alternating verticals (130)
Polygonal Warren truss (899)
Pony truss (15,024)
Port Authority of Allegheny County (4)
Preserved (1,053)
Rail-and-Road (311)
Railroad (13,045)
Span length 250-500 feet (1,078)
Streetcar (213)
Through truss (12,861)
Total length 1000-2500 feet (1,655)
Truss (29,377)
Warren truss (5,742)

Update Log 

  • January 18, 2017: New photo from Dave King
  • December 1, 2016: New photo from Dana and Kay Klein
  • November 17, 2016: Updated by Christopher Finigan: Added category "Pin-connected"
  • July 24, 2016: New photos from Royce and Bobette Haley
  • May 25, 2015: Updated by Luke: Added categories "Rail-and-Road", "Railroad", "Streetcar", "Pittsburgh Railways", "Port Authority of Allegheny County"
  • August 16, 2014: New photos from Patrick S. O'Donnell
  • November 2, 2012: New photo from Alexander D. Mitchell IV
  • November 19, 2010: New photos from Jason Smith
  • November 23, 2008: New photos from James Baughn
  • October 8, 2008: New photo from Rick Mattioni
  • February 26, 2007: Posted HAER photos

Related Bridges 

Sources 

  • Wikipedia
  • HAER PA-2 - Smithfield Street Bridge, Spanning Monongahela River on Smithfield Street, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, PA
  • Rick Mattioni
  • Jason Smith - flensburg [dot] bridgehunter [dot] av [at] googlemail [dot] com
  • Alexander D. Mitchell IV
  • Bridgemapper.com - by Todd Wilson and Lauren Winkler
  • Patrick S. O'Donnell - 1 [dot] 991km [at] comcast [dot] net
  • Royce and Bobette Haley - roycehaley111 [at] yahoo [dot] com
  • Dana and Kay Klein
  • Dave King - DKinghawkfan [at] hotmail [dot] com
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Comments 

Smithfield Street Bridge
Posted February 5, 2015, by Gil Graham (rgg [at] reagan [dot] com)

This is perhaps my favorite bridge in the USA. If any bridge enthusiast has not seen it, put it on your bucket list to take a walk across. The engineering attributes and fabrication details are wonderful.

Smithfield Street Bridge
Posted October 12, 2014, by ArtS (asuckewer [at] knite [dot] co )

A nice little write-up on the Smithfield Street Bridge:

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2014/10/12/S...

Smithfield Street Bridge
Posted March 27, 2007, by Randy Brush

I know about Smithfield Street Bridge. it is very old bridge. it is over 125 years old. wow It is good.

Smithfield Street Bridge
Posted October 12, 2006, by Cheryl Towers (cyberjyber [at] earthlink [dot] net)

I just learned that the Smithfield Street Bridge, a double lenticular truss design, is known to old time Pittsburghers as the "kissing fish bridge". For more on Pittsburgh bridges, see "The Bridges of Pittsburgh" by Bob Regan with photos by Tim Fabian published in June 2006 by The Local History Company. (Full disclosure: I'm one of the publishers!)