Westinghouse Bridge
Photos
The George Westinghouse Memorial Bridge
This stunning open-spandrel arch bridge features five spans and four huge pylons that make up this majestic memorial to George Westinghouse. It was built to carry the Lincoln Highway over the heavily industrialized, and very congested area, known as Turtle Creek.
Photo taken by J.R. Manning in October 2007
George Westinghouse Memorial Bridge
Written by J.R. ManningThis gorgeous, open-spandrel arch bridge features five spans and four large pylons that make up this majestic memorial to George Westinghouse. It was built to carry the Lincoln Highway (US 30 in this part of Pennsylvania) over the heavily industrialized and very congested area known as Turtle Creek.
Before the opening of this bridge in 1932, Lincoln Highway traffic was carried on the Greensburg Pike. (See #BH 30251.) The highway crossed Turtle Creek via the Greensburg Pike Bridge and into the congested valley, climbing slowly back up the other side of the valley. The typical journey through the valley took motorists an average of 40 minutes. With the opening of the George Westinghouse Bridge, the trip was shortened to just a few minutes.
This is a very difficult bridge to photograph because of its length and location. The only photos of the entire span that this reporter has seen have been aerial, digitally enhanced, or taken with wide-angle lenses that result in a fish-eye appearance.
In addition, foliage has grown up around both ends, obfuscating the two outside arches.
There are four pylons that mark the portals of this bridge. Each pylon is inscribed with the government officials involved with construction. Each portal has a granite sculpture honoring the historical nature of the valley below the bridge. Each pylon also has a bas relief sculpture of the Allegheny County coat of arms.
This bridge is a stunning memorial to Westinghouse. It is also a stunning design and can be admired from top and bottom.
For another view of this bridge, log on to the MSN Virtual Earth website. If you click on "Bird's Eye View" you'll see aerial views of this bridge and Turtle Valley.
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?cp=40.392634%7c-79.835795&...
Facts
- Overview
- Open-spandrel arch bridge over Turtle Creek on US 30 in East Pittsburgh
- Location
- Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
- Status
- Open to traffic
- History
- Built 1931; rehabilitated 1983
- Builder
- - Booth & Flinn Co. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Contractor)
- Design
- Open-spandrel arch
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 460.0 ft.
Total length: 1,524.0 ft.
Deck width: 47.9 ft.
- Recognition
- Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on March 28, 1977
- Also called
- George Westinghouse Memorial Bridge (official name)
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +40.39242, -79.83632 (decimal degrees)
40°23'33" N, 79°50'11" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 17/598761/4471963 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Braddock
- Inventory numbers
- PA 02 0030 0260 0000 (Pennsylvania Bridge Management System number)
NRHP 77001120 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
PANBI 00674 (Pennsylvania BRKEY bridge number on the 2011 NBI)
BH 30327 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection (as of 11/2008)
- Deck condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Appraisal: Structurally deficient
Sufficiency rating: 43.4 (out of 100) - Average daily traffic (as of 2009)
- 10,229
Update Log
- November 25, 2016: New Street View added by Dana and Kay Klein
- April 5, 2015: Photo imported by Dave King
- September 17, 2013: New Street View added by Michael Miller
- October 29, 2010: New photos from Jason Smith
- April 18, 2009: Posted HAER photos
- March 30, 2008: Updated by J.R. Manning: Added Bridge to "Lincoln Highway" Category
- March 25, 2008: Essay added by J.R. Manning
- January 26, 2008: New photo from J.R. Manning
Sources
- J.R. Manning - thekitchenguy [at] sbcglobal [dot] net
- HAER PA-446 - George Westinghouse Bridge, Spanning Turtle Creek at Lincoln Highway (U.S. Route 30), East Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, PA
- Jason Smith - flensburg [dot] bridgehunter [dot] av [at] googlemail [dot] com
- Bridgemapper.com - by Todd Wilson and Lauren Winkler
- Michael Miller - michael_a_miller [at] yahoo [dot] com
- Dana and Kay Klein
Comments
This stunning open-spandrel arch bridge features five spans and four large pylons that make up this majestic memorial to George Westinghouse. It was built to carry the Lincoln Highway (US 30 in this part of Pennsylvania) over the heavily industrialized and very congested area known as Turtle Creek.
Before the opening of this bridge in 1932, Lincoln Highway traffic was carried on the Greensburg Pike. (See #BH 30251.) The highway crossed Turtle Creek via the Greensburg Pike Bridge and into the congested valley, climbing slowly back up the other side of the valley. The typical journey through the valley took motorists an average of 40 minutes. With the opening of the George Westinghouse Bridge, the trip was shortened to just a few minutes.
This is a very difficult bridge to photograph because of its length and location. The only photos of the entire span that this reporter has seen have been aerial, digitally enhanced, or taken with wide-angle lenses that result in a fish-eye appearance.
In addition, foliage has grown up around both ends, obfuscating the two outside arches.
There are four pylons that mark the portals of this bridge. Each pylon is inscribed with the government officials involved with construction. Each portal has a granite sculpture honoring the historical nature of the valley below the bridge. Each pylon also has a bas relief sculpture of the Allegheny County coat of arms.
This bridge is a stunning memorial to Westinghouse. It is also a stunning design and can be admired from top and bottom.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/pa/allegheny/westinghouse/