Rachel Carson Bridge


Rachel Carson Bridge, also known as the Ninth Street Bridge, spans the Allegheny River in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the United States. The total length is including the main span and two side spans, or including the approaches. The total width of the deck is, including the roadway plus two sidewalks outside the compressive plate girder. Whereas the roadway formerly carried two vehicle lanes and two streetcar tracks, it now carries four wide vehicle lanes.
Named for the naturalist and author Rachel Carson, a Pittsburgh native, it is one of three parallel bridges called The Three Sisters, the others being the Roberto Clemente Bridge and the Andy Warhol Bridge. The Three Sisters are self-anchored suspension bridges and are significant because they are the only trio of nearly identical bridges—as well as the first self-anchored suspension spans—built in the United States.

History

The bridge was dedicated and opened at a noon ceremony with Commissioner Babcock, Mayor Kline, and city council members including Herron and McArdle. The cost of construction was $1.46 million or $ in terms.
The bridge was renamed on Earth Day, April 22, 2006, after years of lobbying by Esther Barazzone, president of Chatham University, the alma mater of the renowned environmentalist. Carson was born in 1907 in Springdale, Pennsylvania, in a farmhouse up the Allegheny River, now the Rachel Carson Homestead.
On February 11th, 2019 the bridge was closed to vehicles and pedestrians for a comprehensive rehabilitation project. The bridge is expected to remain closed until at least June of 2020. Traffic is being detoured over either the Andy Warhol Bridge or the Roberto Clemente Bridge, both of which run parallel and are less than 1/2 mile away from the Rachel Carson Bridge.

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