Skip to main content

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

  • “Structurally deficient” US bridges need warning signs, says ARTBA
    April 10, 2015
    A US construction sector group wants warning signs to be posted on bridges designated “structurally deficient" and in need of repair by state engineers. More than 61,000 structurally deficient bridges remain in need of significant repair, according to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), which analysed the US Department of Transport’s National Bridge Inventory database. However, by the end of 2014 there were more than 2,000 fewer structurally deficient structures than in 20
  • Romania’s important bridge project
    October 5, 2022
    Romania’s important Braila Bridge project will deliver a key crossing spanning the Danube River
  • Germany’s Salierbrücke bridge reopens
    December 1, 2021
    Extensive upgrading of the Salier Bridge was commissioned by Karlsruhe city council in 2019.
  • VIDEO: Broadway Bridge defies demolition experts, for a time
    October 12, 2016
    A 100-year old steel arch bridge in the United States stood firm for a time against the blasts laid down by demolition experts.

    The structure connected the cities of Little Rock and North Little Rock in the state of Arkansas. It carried U.S. Route 70 but was finally closed on 28 September.

    Although Broadway Bridge, spanning the Arkansas River, was built almost a century ago, the steel arches were added 60 years later as part of a strengthening project to the under-structure to widen the river navigation channel.