Hot Metal Bridge | |
---|---|
![]() Roadway south portal from the bike trail. | |
Coordinates | 40°25′42″N79°57′39″W / 40.428268°N 79.960776°W |
Carries | South 29th Street Mon Con: motor vehicles, 2 lanes Hot Metal: converted for pedestrian and bicycles |
Crosses | Monongahela River |
Locale | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
Official name | Monongahela Connecting Railroad Bridge and Hot Metal Bridge |
Other name(s) | MC RR Bridge, Mon Con Bridge, pghe588-14 |
Characteristics | |
Design | Truss bridge |
Total length | 1,174 feet (358 m) |
Longest span | 321 feet (98 m) |
Clearance below | 48.4 feet (14.8 m) |
History | |
Designer | William Glyde Wilkins? |
Opened | 1887 |
Designated | 2009 |
Location | |
![]() |
The Hot Metal Bridge is a truss bridge in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that crosses the Monongahela River. The bridge consists of two parallel spans on a single set of piers: the former Monongahela Connecting Railroad Bridge, built in 1887, on the upstream side and the former Hot Metal Bridge, built in 1900, on the downstream side. The Monongahela Connecting Railroad Bridge carried conventional railroad traffic, while the Hot Metal Bridge connected parts of the J&L Steel mill, carrying crucibles of molten iron from the blast furnaces in ladle transfer cars to the open hearth furnaces on the opposite bank to be converted to steel. During World War II 15% of America's steel making capacity crossed over the Hot Metal Bridge, up to 180 tons per hour. [1] The upstream span was converted to road use after a $14.6 million restoration, and opened by Mayor Tom Murphy with a ceremony honoring former steel workers on June 23, 2000. [2] The bridge connects 2nd Avenue at the Pittsburgh Technology Center in South Oakland with Hot Metal Street (South 29th Street) in the South Side. The downstream span reopened for pedestrian and bicycle use in late 2007 after two years of work. The Great Allegheny Passage hiker/biker trail passes over this bridge as it approaches Pittsburgh's Golden Triangle area.
The Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation was responsible for managing the decorative lighting project for the bridge, which was lit with energy-efficient light-emitting diode (LED) and optical fiber technology on June 12, 2008.
The Hot Metal Bridge was inducted into the North America Railway Hall of Fame in 2016. [3]
The Hot Metal Bridge is the namesake of the defunct Hot Metal Grille at the nearby SouthSide Works shopping center.
The bridge was in several scenes of the 2011 film Warrior starring Jennifer Morrison and Nick Nolte.
The Monongahela Connecting Railroad or Mon Conn was a three-mile industrial railroad line in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was a subsidiary of the Jones & Laughlin Steel Company and a large portion of its work was for its parent company, though it also served other industries along the line.
The Allegheny Portage Railroad was the first railroad constructed through the Allegheny Mountains in central Pennsylvania. It operated from 1834 to 1854 as the first transportation infrastructure through the gaps of the Allegheny that connected the midwest to the eastern seaboard across the barrier range of the Allegheny Front. Approximately 36 miles (58 km) long overall, both ends connected to the Pennsylvania Canal, and the system was primarily used as a portage railway, hauling river boats and barges over the divide between the Ohio and the Susquehanna Rivers. Today, the remains of the railroad are preserved within the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site operated by the National Park Service.
The Roberto Clemente Bridge, also known as the Sixth Street Bridge, spans the Allegheny River in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.
The Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation, also known as J&L Steel or simply as J&L, was an American steel and iron manufacturer that operated from 1852 until 1968. The enterprise began as the American Iron Company, founded in 1852 by Bernard Lauth and Benjamin Franklin Jones, about 2.5 mi (4.0 km) south of Pittsburgh along the Monongahela River. Lauth's interest was bought in 1854 by James Laughlin. The first firm to bear the name of Jones and Laughlin was organized in 1861, and headquartered at Third & Ross in downtown Pittsburgh.
The Smithfield Street Bridge is a lenticular truss bridge crossing the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
The Homestead Grays Bridge, also known as the (Homestead) High Level Bridge, was built in 1936 and spans the Monongahela River between Homestead Borough and the southernmost tip of Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood. It is notable as the first bridge to incorporate the Wichert Truss, which uses a quadrilateral shape over each support, into its design. This made the truss statically determinate, so that forces in the structural members could be calculated. There are very few surviving Wichert Truss bridges, including one other example in Pittsburgh, the Charles Anderson Memorial Bridge.
The Liberty Bridge, which was completed in 1928, connects downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to the Liberty Tunnels and the South Hills neighborhoods beyond. It crosses the Monongahela River and intersects Interstate 579 at its northern terminus.
The Carrie Furnace Hot Metal Bridge is a railroad truss bridge across the Monongahela River between Whitaker, Pennsylvania, and Rankin, Pennsylvania. The bridge is out of service and it has not seen a train in almost 40 years.
The West End Bridge is a steel tied-arch bridge over the Ohio River in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) below the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers. It connects the West End to the Chateau neighborhood on the North Side of Pittsburgh.
Andy Warhol Bridge, also known as the Seventh Street Bridge, spans the Allegheny River in Downtown Pittsburgh. It is the only bridge in the United States named for a visual artist. It was opened at a cost of $1.5 million on June 17, 1926, in a ceremony attended by 2,000.
George Westinghouse Memorial Bridge in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, carries U.S. Route 30, the Lincoln Highway, over the Turtle Creek Valley near to where it joins the Monongahela River Valley east of Pittsburgh. The reinforced concrete open-spandrel deck arch bridge has a total length of 1,598 feet (487 m) comprising five spans. The longest, central span is 460 feet (140 m), with the deck height 240 feet (73 m) above the valley floor, for a time the world's longest concrete arch span structure. It cost $1.75 million. The design engineers were Vernon R. Covell and George S. Richardson, with architectural design by Stanley Roush. The pylons at the ends of the bridges feature Art Deco reliefs by Frank Vittor.
The Ohio Connecting Railroad Bridge is a steel bridge which crosses the Ohio River at Brunot's Island at the west end of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It consists of two major through truss spans over the main and back channels of the river, of 508 feet (155 m) and 406 feet (124 m) respectively, with deck truss approaches.
A large metropolitan area that is surrounded by rivers and hills, Pittsburgh has an infrastructure system that has been built out over the years to include roads, tunnels, bridges, railroads, inclines, bike paths, and stairways; however, the hills and rivers still form many barriers to transportation within the city.
Union Railroad is a Class III switching railroad located in Allegheny County in Western Pennsylvania. The company is owned by Transtar, Inc., which is a subsidiary of Fortress Transportation and Infrastructure Investors, after being acquired from U.S. Steel in 2021. The railroad's primary customers are the three plants of the USS Mon Valley Works, the USS Edgar Thomson Steel Works, the USS Irvin Plant and the USS Clairton Coke Works.
Carrie Furnace is a former blast furnace located along the Monongahela River in the Pittsburgh area industrial town of Swissvale, Pennsylvania, and it had formed a part of the Homestead Steel Works. The Carrie Furnaces were built in 1884 and they operated until 1982. During its peak, the site produced 1,000 to 1,250 tons of iron per day. All that is left of the site are furnaces #6 and #7, which operated from 1907 to 1978, and its hot metal bridge. The furnaces, designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006, are among the only pre-World War II 20th century blast furnaces to survive.
The Brady Street Bridge, also known as the South 22nd Street Bridge, was a steel bowstring arch bridge in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which crossed over the Monongahela River at South 22nd Street. Its main span was a tied arch with a suspended road deck, with two through-truss side spans, carrying two traffic lanes between Brady Street on the Pittsburgh side and South 22nd Street on the south side. Approach viaducts were built at either end. The bridge was built by the Schultz Bridge and Iron Company.
The Three Rivers Heritage Trail is an urban rail trail paralleling the riverbanks in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Allegheny County for about 33 miles (53 km), often on both sides of the rivers, and offering views of the city. The trail is promoted and maintained in part by the 'Friends of the Riverfront'.
The McKeesport Connecting Railroad Bridge, also known as the Riverton Bridge, is a bridge that spans the Monongahela River between McKeesport, and Duquesne, Pennsylvania.
The Manchester Bridge, also known as the North Side Point Bridge, was a steel Pratt truss bridge that spanned the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The Point Bridge was a steel cantilever truss bridge that spanned the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.