Rating:
12 votes

Ambridge-Woodlawn Bridge

Beaver County, Pennsylvania
Share:

Photos 

Overview

Photo taken by James Baughn in July 2009

Enlarge

Request this photo

Map 

Street Views 

View Uglybridges.com report

Facts 

Overview
Cantilevered through truss bridge over the Ohio River on 11th Street in Ambridge
Location
Beaver County, Pennsylvania
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1927 by the American Bridge Co.
Builders
- American Bridge Co. of New York
- Dravo Contracting Co. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Design
Cantilevered through truss
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 529.9 ft.
Total length: 1,995.2 ft.
Deck width: 26.9 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 18.0 ft.
Approximate latitude, longitude
+40.59167, -80.23667   (decimal degrees)
40°35'30" N, 80°14'12" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
17/564592/4493709 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map
Ambridge
Inventory numbers
PA 04 7402 0000 4001 (Pennsylvania Bridge Management System number)
PANBI 03894 (Pennsylvania BRKEY bridge number on the 2011 NBI)
BH 30350 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection (as of 08/2009)
Deck condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Serious (3 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Appraisal: Structurally deficient
Sufficiency rating: 2.0 (out of 100)
Average daily traffic (as of 2006)
22,500

Categories 

American Bridge Co. (449)
Beaver County, Pennsylvania (41)
Built 1927 (533)
Built during 1920s (7,031)
Cantilevered (241)
Cantilevered truss (221)
Dravo Contracting Co. (6)
Have street view (9,883)
 Navigable waterway (1,448)
Ohio River (95)
Open (28,297)
Pennsylvania (3,037)
Span length 500-1000 feet (313)
Through truss (9,201)
Total length 1000-2500 feet (1,210)
Truss (23,561)

Update Log 

  • October 23, 2010: New photos from Jason Smith
  • April 13, 2010: New Street View added by James Baughn
  • July 27, 2009: New photos from James Baughn

Sources 

Post a comment here
Contact webmaster

Comments 

Ambridge-Woodlawn Bridge
Posted March 14, 2012, by Tony Dillon (spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com)

Rehab is less expensive...

How many PennDOT officials does it take to turn on a lightbulb!

Ambridge-Woodlawn Bridge
Posted March 14, 2012, by Nathan Holth (form3 [at] historicbridges [dot] org)

It was a bit of a rough road getting here. It is sad that it requires a situation like this, but one of the main reasons they are rehabbing is they ended up not having the money to demo and replace the bridge. Rehab is of course less expensive.

Ambridge-Woodlawn Bridge
Posted March 14, 2012, by Tony Dillon (spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com)

Another save for Pennsylvania?...WOW!

Ambridge-Woodlawn Bridge
Posted March 13, 2012, by Anonymous

This bridge is closed for rehabilitation. Traffic is being detoured upriver to the congested Sewickley Bridge, about an 11 mile detour.

It is set to reopen at the end of the construction season in November and then close again when work resumes in spring 2013.

http://www.wpxi.com/news/news/local/ambridge-aliquippa-bridge-closed-through-november-/nLKm5/

Ambridge-Woodlawn Bridge
Posted August 20, 2011, by Tony Dillon (spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com)

This one should be restored as a piece of Ambridge history being as it was built by the company. Not that it really means anything to PennDOT.

Ambridge-Woodlawn Bridge
Posted August 20, 2011, by Robert Elder (robertelder1 [at] gmail [dot] com)

Not sure why the two star rating - I just gave it 5 to bump it up to where it deserves. This is definitely one of the most unique cantilver bridges in the country and hopefully it will be spared the cutting torch.

Ambridge-Woodlawn Bridge
Posted August 19, 2011, by Andrew Hayes (andrew [dot] hayes [at] bresnan [dot] net)

The borough of Ambridge was named for American Bridge. The "Bridge Plant" as it was known locally, was the "largest structural steel plant in the world" until closed sometime in the 1970s. The facility is now an industrial park.