Getting the Scoop on the Long-Overdue, $19M Greenfield Bridge* Project

In late November last year, 60 Minutes ran a segment on America’s structurally deficient infrastructure and the segment featured the Greenfield Bridge. And who can blame them? The Greenfield Bridge has a second bridge beneath it for the sole purpose of preventing pieces of the crumbling, old bridge from dropping onto cars traveling on Interstate 376 below. Now with funding secured and a proposed plan for the new construction, the City held it’s second public meeting on Tuesday to discuss one of the most important bridge projects that Pittsburgh has seen in many years.

The meeting hall at St. Rosalia Catholic church was totally packed. More than 150 concerned community members came out to hear about the new plans.

Patrick Hassett, a deputy director in the city Department of Public Works, led the main presentation and laid out the vision for a new bridge with much calmer traffic and a better atmosphere for bikes. “We’re trying to get this road back to its park setting where the bicyclist and the pedestrian have safe passage,” he explained to the packed room. “We need to get those bicyclists and those peds across the bridge safely.” #PatHassettforPresident2016

So, without further ado, here’s the good news:

• The new bridge will be 5ft wider, with a wide 10ft sidewalk on the downtown side
• There will be marked bicycle paths in both directions on the bridge, with a 14ft shared bike/car lane heading towards Greenfield and a designated bike lane heading into Schenley. (Note: We’re still working on the details of the road markings with the City)
• Greenfield Rd, on the Schenley Park side, will be designated as a two lane road, with bike lanes on each side
• The current 100 year old bridge will be replaced by a new steel bridge, with lots of flair from the old structure
• The city has made a commitment to creating and maintaining a bike and pedestrian detour, the details of which will be released soon
• Pending approval of the yet-to-be-named contractor, the City is committed to keeping Greenfield Rd open to park users traveling by foot and by bike during the construction, in order to access the non-motorized Pocusset St in Schenley Park

And the bad news:

• The bridge will be closed to traffic for a whopping 18 months, October 2015 through May 2017.

So long, old friend.

Demolition of the existing bridge is scheduled between Xmas and New Year’s, and will completely shut down 376 for seven days. The explosion is tentatively set for Dec 27, and they’ll be hauling dirt and dumping it onto the highway. Then they’ll set dynamite and explode the pillars onto the highway! Yes, really.
 

Stay Tuned

We’ll be bringing you additional information about this project shortly, including the pedestrian detour and other details. A big thanks to the city for holding a well run meeting to share this information, and to all of you lovely people who walk and bike for showing up to the meeting to hear about the plans.
 

Comments for the City?

If you have any questions or concerns about the project to send to the Department of Public Works click here. Leave a comment for Councilman Corey O’Connor’s office here.

*The More You Know — Patrick Hassett began his presentation on Tuesday by dropping some serious knowledge: As it turns out, the bridge we’ve been discussing is technically named the Beechwood Boulevard Bridge. Who knew? Now that that’s out of the way, we’ll continue to call it the Greenfield Bridge so that people actually know what we’re talking about.

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