Donora Webster Bridge
Description
One year has now passed since demolition decision was made; demo was expected to start within that time. http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2012/02/16/penndot-to-tear-do...Facts
- Overview
- Through truss bridge over Monongahela River on PA 1022 in Donora and Rostraver Twp
- Location
- Donora, Washington County, Pennsylvania, and Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
- Status
- Demolished at 10:00am on 1 July, 2015
- History
- Built 1906; rehabilitated 1938; closed July 14, 2009; Demolished on 1 July, 2015
- Builders
- - Engineer/Design- A. N. Nelson
- Toledo-Massillon Bridge Co. of Toledo, Ohio
- Design
- four spans are Parker through truss while the longest and center span is a Pennsylvania through truss
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 518.1 ft.
Total length: 1,547.0 ft.
Deck width: 22.6 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 8.6 ft.
- Recognition
- Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on June 22, 1988
- Also called
- Ernest Kline Bridge
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +40.18445, -79.85182 (decimal degrees)
40°11'04" N, 79°51'07" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 17/597745/4448862 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Donora
- Average daily traffic (as of 2014)
- 3,044
- Inventory numbers
- PA 62 1022 0010 0036 (Pennsylvania Bridge Management System number)
NRHP 88000813 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
PANBI 34828 (Pennsylvania BRKEY bridge number on the 2011 NBI)
BH 31756 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection report (as of April 2013)
- Overall condition: Poor
Substructure condition rating: Serious (3 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 2 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com
Update Log
- June 30, 2020: Updated by Geoff Hubbs: Added builder
- May 17, 2016: New photo from Art Suckewer
- July 1, 2015: Updated by Jason Smith: This bridge is gone- demoed using explosives at 10:00am on 1 July, 2015
- June 26, 2015: Updated by Nathan Holth: Updated planned implosion/demolition date for this nationally significant historic bridge.
- March 26, 2014: New Street View added by Luke Harden
- March 26, 2014: Updated by Nathan Holth: This bridge is now doomed. Added estimated demolition date.
- March 9, 2014: Updated by Dave King: Added NRHP info
- February 14, 2013: Updated by Don Morrison: Fixed position, changed to 5 main spans from 6. Not that it matters: bridge is doomed
- March 17, 2011: New Street View added by Jason Smith
- November 5, 2010: Updated by Jason Smith: Changed location of bridge/ updated the bridge types
- July 22, 2009: New photos from James Baughn
- July 14, 2009: Updated by Ian Anderson: Bridge now closed
- July 11, 2009: New photos from Brian McKee
Sources
- Historicbridges.org - by Nathan Holth
- Brian McKee - bjmckee51 [at] yahoo [dot] com
- Ian Anderson - macsignals [at] gmail [dot] com
- Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
- James Baughn - webmaster [at] bridgehunter [dot] com
- Jason Smith - flensburg [dot] bridgehunter [dot] av [at] googlemail [dot] com
- Don Morrison
- Todd Wilson
- Dave King - DKinghawkfan [at] hotmail [dot] com
- Nathan Holth
- 2014 News Article
- Luke
- Art Suckewer - Asuckewer [at] knite [dot] com
- Geoff Hubbs
Comments
What a shame.
This bridge is now a memory: http://www.wtae.com/news/donorawebster-bridge-demolition-set...
Already removed from the google map. This should become a park/museum instead of scrap.
March 16, 2015 story in the Wall Street Journal:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/donora-steels-itself-for-the-los...
from the article:
There are few, if any, bridges as long as Donora’s remaining in the U.S. that connect supports using pins rather than rivets, say bridge experts. But its length, including sections that measure more than 180 feet long, make it impractical to relocate.
Well, this sucks. Demo has begun:
http://www.observer-reporter.com/article/20150212/NEWS01/150...
Article on status:
http://triblive.com/news/editorspicks/7470396-74/donora-town...
Article with picture:
http://triblive.com/state/pennsylvania/6454607-74/bridge-nam...
The actual Anticipated Notice To Proceed is July 21, 2014. So hopefully the bridge will still be standing when I visit the Pittsburgh area around the 4th of July. I have already photographed the bridge twice... but just need to see it one last time. The demolition of this bridge is an absolute atrocity.
PennDot has this bridge slated for removal with a project letting May 22, 2014. If anyone wants to photograph this bridge before it is gone forever, I suggest it be very soon. Contract calls for salvaging some historical elements of the bridge.
Well what does one know? Sounds all too much like PennDot. With a large collection of historic bridges, they want to throw about all of them away. I've always thought the Pennsylvania truss had to been developed in Pennsylvania. Hadn't looked up anything yet but will after this. Not too many of these large old Pennsylvania trusses left which I think symbolize the state. This will be a huge loss.
Another large and historic truss bridge's fate to be decided by PennDOT, might as well edit the page to say 'Demolished 2010' right now.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/pa/washington/donora-webster/
A shame? That's putting it mildly.
This newspaper was brave enough to interview me about this bridge's demolition. It was nice to be quoted accurately for a change. http://www.post-gazette.com/local/washington/2015/07/01/Dono...