Andy Warhol Bridge

Introduction

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One of Pittsburgh’s “Three Sisters” (a trio of nearly identical bridges), the Andy Warhol Bridge was, until 2005, known as the 7th Street Bridge. The first of the Three Sisters to open, in 1926, it, like its counterparts, is a unique self-anchored suspension bridge, the first built in the United States. It sits between the Roberto Clemente and Rachel Carson Bridges and spans the Allegheny River connecting downtown’s 7th Street with the North Shore’s Sandusky Street. Due to its unique design and longevity, the Andy Warhol Bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986, along with its two “sisters.”

Images

The Andy Warhol Bridge spans the Allegheny River and connects downtown Pittsburgh with its North Shore. The Roberto Clemente Bridge can be seen in the background.

The Warhol Bridge during its "yarn-bombing" in 2013.

The then, 7th Street Bridge, being constructed in 1925.

A close-up of one of the Warhol Bridge's eye-bar catenaries, which were used rather than cables in its construction.

Pittsburgh's "Three Sisters" with the Warhol Bridge flanked by the Roberto Clemente (foreground) and Rachel Carson (background) Bridges.

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

The Warhol Bridge is the second to cross the Allegheny at this site. The first was designed by famed bridge engineer, Gustav Lindenthal three years after the completion of the nearby Smithfield Street Bridge which he also designed. Known as the Irwin Street Bridge, as that was the name of the future 7th Street, it was completed in 1904. However, this two-span, traditional suspension bridge was deemed obsolete by the War Department shortly after the conclusion of World War I. The War Department sought to keep the rivers around Pittsburgh open to larger vessels, especially considering the war materials coming out of the Steel City at that time and Lindenthal’s Bridge was considered too low to the river and too narrow to meet their needs. As a result, construction on a new bridge, that sat higher above the river, began in 1925.

The city contracted with the American Bridge Company of New York to build all three bridges with the Warhol Bridge being designed by Chief Engineer Vernon Covell and architect Stanley Roush. The designers developed the bridge’s unusual design due to the fact that the ground along the Allegheny was too unstable to secure shore anchorages required for a normal suspension bridge. Consequently, they decided to utilize a self-anchored suspension bridge whereby the cables, or eye-bars in this case, would be anchored to the stiffening girder within the bridge deck. Another unique aspect was that the bridge would be constructed using a cantilever system, making it the first self-anchored suspension bridge on the globe so constructed.

In order to more easily facilitate the self-anchoring system, the designers decided to use eye-bar chains or catenaries which consisted of eight or nine parallel eye-bars connected with massive pins and anchored at the top of each of its 83-foot towers. They then suspended the bridge deck from additional, vertical eye-bars that hang from the catenaries. It was originally painted green and grey, but that color scheme was changed to Aztec gold in 1975 when the city adopted Black and gold as the official colors.

The bridge’s name was changed in 2005, on the tenth anniversary of the Andy Warhol Museum which is located on Pittsburgh’s North Shore. The son of a coal miner from Slovakia, Warhol was born in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh in 1928. A sickly child, he spent much of his time indoors, drawing and writing. He graduated from Oakland’s Schenley High School and, later, from the Carnegie Institute of Technology with a degree in Fine Arts and then moved to New York City where he became one of the best known modern artists in the country. After his death, he was buried next to his parents back in Pittsburgh in 1987.

Sources

"Andy Warhol Bridge." PGH Bridges. 2001. Accessed May 10, 2017. http://pghbridges.com/pittsburghW/0584-4477/seventh_st_br.htm

"Pennsylvania Historic Bridges Recording Project II -- Trinity of Bridges." PGH Bridges/National Park Service. Accessed May 10, 2017. http://pghbridges.com/articles/haer/sisters_HAER_PA490/sisters_HAER490.htm

"Andy Warhol Bridge History." Allegheny County Public Works. Accessed May 10, 2017. http://www.alleghenycounty.us/public-works/andy-warhol-bridge-history.aspx

Kirkland, Kevin. "The Bridges of Pittsburgh: The Andy Warhol Bridge." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. July 21, 2013. Accessed May 10, 2017. http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/art-architecture/2013/07/21/The-Bridges-of-Pittsburgh-The-Andy-Warhol...