Rachel Carson (Ninth Street) Bridge Reopens to Traffic

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Brent Wasko November 23, 2020 412-350-2451 (office) 412-577-6175 (cell) [email protected]

PITTSBURGH – The Department of Public Works announced that the Rachel Carson (Ninth Street) Bridge in the City of Pittsburgh has reopened to traffic. The closure, which began on February 11, 2019, was required for a $23.3 million rehabilitation project.

Major items of work during the project have included:

• Structural steel repairs;

• Construction of a concrete deck;

• Construction of new service lines for utilities;

• Replacement of the expansion dams and drainage systems;

• Replacement of the sidewalks;

• Replacement of the lighting to resemble its original appearance from the 1920s; and

• Painting of the bridge Aztec Gold.

The sidewalk on the west side of the bridge – the one closer to the Andy Warhol Bridge – and the stairway to the Three Rivers Heritage Trail on the downtown side will remain closed until early spring 2021. Several handrail posts that connect railing to the bridge were found to be unrepairable and need to be fabricated. The sidewalk on the east side of the bridge has reopened.

The bridge has a new lane configuration. Instead of four lanes of traffic with two lanes in each direction, there are now three lanes of traffic with wider shoulders. When traveling into downtown from the North Shore, one lane will lead onto the bridge and widen out to two lanes at Fort Duquesne Boulevard. Similarly, when traveling from downtown to the North Shore, one lane will lead onto the bridge and then widen into two lanes on the other side.

The project is being completed by Brayman Construction and Advantage Steel and Construction – both of Saxonburg – and is being done with funding from PennDOT and the Federal Highway Administration.

The Rachel Carson Bridge was opened in 1926 and is one of the three “Sister Bridges,” the only trio of identical bridges in the world and the first self-anchored suspension bridges in the United States. This is the second rehabilitation project of the three “Sister Bridges,” following the Andy Warhol (Seventh Street) Bridge project in 2016-17. Rehabilitation of the Roberto Clemente (Sixth Street) Bridge is expected to occur between fall 2021 and spring 2023.

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Stephen G. Shanley, PE, Director Department of Public Works 501 County Office Building │542 Forbes Avenue │ Pittsburgh, PA 15219 Phone: 412-350-4005 │ Fax: 412-350-5386 www.alleghenycounty.us