OFFICIAL NAME:
OTHER DESIGNATION:
Ninth Street Bridge
LOCATION:
Pittsburgh
USGS 7.5" Topo Quad - UTM Coordinates:
Pittsburgh West - Zone 17; 0584 4477
CARRIED:
motor vehicles
BETWEEN:
-- Anderson St on right descending bank of Allegheny River
-- Ninth St [Hand St] on left descending bank of Allegheny River
CROSSED:
-- Allegheny River at mile 0.7
TYPE OF CONSTRUCTION / DESIGN:
Pratt through truss
LENGTH OF MAIN SPAN:
(north to south) five 16 ft stone arch spans viaduct; 152.5 ft side span; three 205 ft river spans; 152.5 side span
TOTAL LENGTH (including longest elevated ramp):
1,000 ft
HEIGHT OF DECK:
YEAR ERECTED / ENGINEER:
1890, Ferris and Kaufman & Company; replaced 1926
Iron City Bridge Company, contractor
ADDITIONAL INFO:
Designed by George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. and Gustave Kaufman, both graduates Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. The RPI Bulletin of March 1931 shows a photo of this bridge under construction. In the photo, the steel and wrought iron Pratt truss is being built around the older Burr arch truss stucture.
Ferris is most famous as the inventor of the Ferris Wheel amusement ride. Legend has it that Ferris got the inspiration for the Wheel as a boy living near the Carson River in Nevada. He saw a large undershot water wheel near the 1861 Cradlebaugh Bridge, south of Carson City, and wondered what it would be like to ride in one of its buckets.
Declared a toll-free bridge 16 March 1911.
Ninth St was formerly Hand St in Pittsburgh; it aligns with Anderson St in the former city of Allegheny (Northside).
The "Gazette Times" Feb 28, 1925 indicates this bridge was opened in 1890.
view page - "Three Sisters" Bridges -- Historic American Engineering Record document
FIELD CHECKED:
INFO SOURCES:
HAER; Lorant, "Pittsburgh"; Smith, "Pittsburgh: Then and Now"; Kobus and Consoli, "PRR's Golden Triangle"
