Photographs of the Bridges
Smithfield Street Bridge, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
With so many unusual and decorative historic bridges, you might think it is difficult to pick out one bridge in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that is more of an attraction that the others. However, as interesting as are many of the bridges, there is really no competition. The 1883 Smithfield Street Bridge crossing the Monongahela River on the south side of downtown is not only the oldest of the Pittsburgh bridges, but is also the most unusual in construction, and the most ornately decorated.
The bridge is one of the few remaining lenticular truss bridges in the United States. It uses a steel arch above the deck as the main support. Instead of using cables to support the deck, an eyebar chain extends from one end of the arch to the other. The arches being convex upward, and the eyebar chains being convex downward, result in the bridge having a lenticular profile. The deck then connects to the eyebar chains by vertical steel girders. The superstructure of the Smithfield Street Bridge is constructed of three side-by-side lenticular trusses, one on each side of the bridge and one in the middle between the lanes of the roadway. Each truss is anchored on its end by a single, ornamental cast-iron tower, and each is connected to the adjacent one by a complex maze of girders.
The main structure of arches and eyebar chains are a dark marine blue color, but the two ornamental end towers are dutifully painted in Pittsburgh bridge-yellow. In contrast to the simple, undecorated structure of the towers on the Three Sisters, the cast-iron towers on Smithfield Street are riotously decorated with castle-like crenulations, open-sided globe-like orbs, and, for no apparent reason, what appear to be medieval-looking coats of arms alternately sporting griffons and crosses. The juxtaposition of the yellow with dark blue is a nice change from the monotonous yellow of the other Pittsburgh bridges. However, the symbolism of the coats of arms is unclear, and there is a great deal of contrast between the medieval appearance of the towers, the industrial-age appearance of the arch-chain structure, and the glass-sided office towers a few steps away.
Despite, or possibly because of, this unusual appearance, Smithfield Street is the most prominent of the Pittsburgh bridges as far as being a tourist attraction. The southern end of the bridge leads into Station Square, a popular area of shops, restaurants, and bars with a great view of downtown across the Monongahela. While the Fort Duquesne Bridge has no tourists out walking, and the Three Sisters have only a few, the Smithfield Street Bridge is full of tourists strolling, taking pictures, and generally enjoying the bridge itself, as opposed to just using it to get from one side to the other.
The Smithfield Street Bridge is one of more than 10 bridges described as part of a tour of all of the Pittsburgh bridges in Chapter 9 of my book, Bridgespotting Part 2: A Guide to Even More Bridges that Connect People, Places, and Times.
