A New Bridge Opens Today in Suburban Pittsburgh; An Old Bridge Closes

According to an article by Ed Blazina, "the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation officially opens the new four-lane, $65.7 million replacement bridge crossing the Allegheny River between Oakmont and Harmar."

"The new 1,600-foot bridge was built adjacent to its lilac predecessor and is expected to improve traffic flow and accommodate more than the 26,000 vehicles a day on the old bridge." The old bridge was considered a hazard by first responders, and the new bridge is expected to make it easier to move emergency vehicles across the river.

"In addition to more lanes, the new bridge will have a 4-foot-wide median, a 6-foot shoulder, a bicycle lane and a 5-foot-wide sidewalk on the downriver side featuring observation areas," adds Blazina. 

On the other end of the spectrum in the life of bridges, the Greenfield Bridge recently closed, reports Blazina in a separate article. According to Blazina that bridge represents "a mostly bygone era when bridges were designed with an eye toward public art." The Greenfield Bridge was subjected to some ridicule in a feature by the HBO show This Week Tonight, with John Oliver. He called the response to the Greenfield Bridge's decaying structure, in which engineers built a bridge underneath the original bridge to catch falling concrete, "a college sophomore approach to structural engineering."