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Three Sisters Bridges

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1925–1928, Vernon Covell, and others, engineers; Stanley L. Roush, architect. 6th, 7th, and 9th sts. and the Allegheny River
  • (Photograph by Matthew Aungst)
  • Roberto Clemente Bridge [Sixth Street Bridge] (Photograph by Matthew Aungst)
  • 7th St. Bridge (Photograph by APK, CC BY-SA 4.0)
  • 9th St. Bridge (Photograph by Nyttend)

The only coordinated set in town, these suspension bridges are particularly pleasing aesthetically and reminders that Pittsburgh played a major role in the history of bridge building. The “Three Sisters” bridges, as they are popularly known, were conceived in 1925 jointly by Pittsburgh's Civic Arts Commission and the Allegheny County Bureau of Bridges when the War Department required higher clearance on the river. These are self-anchored suspension bridges: the anchors to the suspension chains are not buried in the earth but are visible as the box girders separating the roadway from the sidewalks. The resulting structures are light and lyrical, among the best marriages of art and engineering in the country. Their names record three Pittsburghers who were creative in very different fields: baseball (Roberto Clemente Bridge [Sixth Street Bridge]), art (Andy Warhol Bridge [Seventh Street Bridge]), and ecology (Rachel Carson Bridge [Ninth Street Bridge]).

Writing Credits

Author: 
Lu Donnelly et al.
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Data

Timeline

  • 1925

    Built

What's Nearby

ALCOA Corporate Center
Andy Warhol Museum
Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts
Theater Square
Renaissance Pittsburgh Hotel

Citation

Lu Donnelly et al., "Three Sisters Bridges", [Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/PA-01-AL13.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of PA vol 1

Buildings of Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania, Lu Donnelly, H. David Brumble IV, and Franklin Toker. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2010, 51-51.

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