VIDEO: Pittsburgh says goodbye to 108-year-old Hulton Bridge

January 27, 2016
It took 500 explosive charges to bring down a 108-year-old truss bridge in the US city of Pittsburgh and crews had three days to clear up the debris, according to local news stations.

The blasts dropped the spans of 407m-long Jonathon Hulton Bridge directly into the Allegheny River. It was the first major bridge designed by Allegheny County in the state of Pennsylvania and connected the eastern Pittsburgh city suburbs of Oakmont and Harmarville.

A new steel girder bridge, directly beside it, opened to traffic in October. It has four 3.35m-wide vehicle lanes - two in each direction – and a 1.23m wide median. There are 1.8m shoulders on each side of the road and a sidewalk on the downstream side of the bridge.

Design of the new bridge was by 5412 Gannett Fleming and the contractor was Brayman Construction. Construction management and inspection was by SAI Consulting Engineers and CDR Maguire.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • VIDEO – Explosive blast apart redundant US bridge
    July 13, 2015
    The Donora-Webster Bridge over the Monongahela River in the US has been demolished using explosives. The ageing structure spanned the Monongahela River, connecting Washington and Westmoreland Counties in Pennsylvania. The bridge was built in 1908 and originally carried a rail link but in 1938 the tracks were removed and the structure was modified so that it could handle motor vehicle traffic instead. The Donora-Webster Bridge linked Route 837 on the west side of the Monongahela River with Route 906 on the east bank.
    Read More
  • Croatia-Bosnia connection
    October 2, 2018
    The Svilaj Bridge connecting Croatia and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is nearly 40% complete, according to the contractors and the Croatian Motorways Directorate. Locally, the Svilaj Bridge – financially a 50-50 project between the two countries - is part of a motorway running from Beli Manastir to Osijek and on tyo Svilaj. But the route is also part of the motorway Budapest-Osijek-Sarajevo-Plocˇ which is the Pan European Corridor Vc (Corridor 5, branch c) connecting Budapest with the Adriatic.
    Read More
  • Alberta’s peaceful partnership
    May 4, 2020
    A bridge project in northern Canada threw up some unexpected challenges, reports David Arminas, from the banks of the Peace River in Alberta
    Read More
  • New Angolan bridge offers improved connectivity
    September 30, 2013
    Drivers in Angola are benefiting from a bridge that spans the Catumbela River, taking the place of an old structure that had proven not fit for purpose. The US$35 million cable stayed bridge is located in the highway between Benguela and Lobito, around 7km from Angola’s Atlantic coast and is one of a series of new infrastructure developments in the country. Angola suffered a long period of war that impacted on its people and infrastructure. The war resulted in severe damage to the country’s road system alon
    Read More

Highlighted Content