Rachel Carson Bridge

Rachel Carson Bridge
Rachel Carson Bridge as seen from the roof of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center
Official name	Rachel Carson Bridge
Other name(s)	Ninth Street Bridge
Carries	Ninth Street
Total length	840 feet (256 m) spans (main and 2 215 side spans) 995 feet (303 m) with approaches
Width	38 ft roadway (formerly 2 vehicle, 2 tramway tracks, now 2 wide vehicle lanes) 10 ft sidewalks (outside the compressive plate girder) or total 62 ft
Longest span	410 feet (125 m)
Vertical clearance	above 78 ft towers
Clearance below	deck is 40.3 ft above Emsworth Dam normal pool level (710 ft above sea level)
Opened	26 November 1926
Coordinates	40°26′48″N 79°59′59″W / 40.4467°N 79.9998°W / 40.4467; -79.9998Coordinates: 40°26′48″N 79°59′59″W / 40.4467°N 79.9998°W / 40.4467; -79.9998

Rachel Carson Bridge, also known as the Ninth Street Bridge, spans the Allegheny River in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Named for the naturalist 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.

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 18 miles up the Allegheny River, now the Rachel Carson Homestead.

Image gallery

From south bank of the Allegheny, looking NE, oblique view of roadway and south tower, showing eyebar links for main suspenders and roadway suspenders, as well as main compressive stiffening girders dividing roadway from sidewalks   Plaque on North Shore of the Rachel Carson Bridge.

See also

• List of crossings of the Allegheny River

External links

• Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. PA-490-C, "Three Sisters Bridges, Ninth Street Bridge"
• Ninth Street Bridge at Structurae
• entry at pghbridges.com
• entry at BridgeMeister.com

References

• Jerome L. Sherman (2006). Carson Bridge Dedication: story by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved April 23, 2006.