Smithfield Street Bridge, Pittsburgh, PA - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

Pittsburgh is sometimes called "The City of Bridges" due to its location where the Allegheny and the Monongahela Rivers join to form the Ohio. You can't get anywhere around here without crossing a bridge, it seems. And the one major bridge that's been around longer than all the others is the Smithfield Street Bridge.

This is the third bridge constructed to span the Monongahela River at downtown. The first was a covered bridge built in 1818, which burned in the great Pittsburgh fire of 1845. The second was a wire suspension bridge designed by John A. Roebling, who also was the mastermind behind the Brooklyn Bridge. His contributions to Pittsburgh's bridge history are memorialized by a Pennsylvania Historic Marker on the South Side of the span. But he didn't design the present Smithfield Street Bridge! That honor goes to Gustav Lindenthal.

The current bridge has been around since the 1880's, and it's gone through several expansions, renovations and upgrades. For a long time, half the bridge was used for trolley traffic.

You'll see the Smithfield Street Bridge featured in many movies filmed in Pittsburgh. The most memorable for me was the scene in "Flashdance" where Jennifer Beals rides her bicycle across the bridge as she commuted to and from the steel mill where she worked.

What makes the bridge so unusual is the oval design of the lenticular trusses. Viewed from a distance, the bridge looks like a giant airplane propeller or "figure eight." I have not seen another bridge quite like this one.

The Smithfield Street Bridge is uniquely Pittsburgh and is a key part of our history. I am proud to share these special spots through Waymarking.com. I've included a number of photographs that I've taken over the years to feature the bridge, as well as one historic photograph. Other vintage and modern photos can be found by following the link below. That site also includes exhaustive technical details about the bridge.

Street address: Smithfield Street at Monongahela River Pittsburgh, PA USA 15222 County / Borough / Parish: Allegheny Year listed: 1974 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Architecture/Engineering Periods of significance: 1875-1899 Historic function: Transportation, Road-related Current function: Transportation, Road-related Privately owned?: no Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Season start / Season finish: Not listed Hours of operation: Not listed Secondary Website 2: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

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