Tag Archives: redevelopment

Keeping an Eye on Penn Plaza: Aug. 2023

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What’s New

While there are no visible changes yet, the redevelopment of Enright Park has made significant progress so far this year. It has been presented to the Art Commission, the Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA), and the Planning Commission. Art Commission because any projects on city-owned land require Art Commission approval; ZBA because the proposal includes a fence taller than is permitted in the zoning regulations; and Planning Commission because of the zoning district where the park is located (AP – Mixed-Use Planned Unit Development). All three boards and commissions have approved the project.

Enright Park was one of the City’s bargaining chips when the developer of the Penn Plaza site was seeking approval to redevelop affordable housing that had been disinvested by the owner into a mixed-use development. For the new layout to work, the developer needed a portion of the land that Enright Park covered. The final agreement between the City and the developer included swapping land so that the park remained and at a similar size and the developer agreed to contribute a significant portion of the cost to redevelop the park.

The Phase 1 building (Liberty East) remains much as it did in 2022. Whole Foods takes up most of the first floor and the one other space at ground level remains vacant. However, according to the news a second office space has been taken by the developer of the building (LG Realty). Duolingo was the first office tenant to move in.

The large block where Phase 2 will go remains visible untouched. Perhaps behind the scenes work is moving forward.

Around the site, the re-establishment of two-way traffic on Euclid Avenue continues; the renovation of the nearby apartment building also progresses, though now they look like they belong in California instead of Pittsburgh since the brick was covered up; and the former site of the East Liberty Lutheran Church remains vacant.

Background

The former Penn Plaza Apartments was a group of large of apartments buildings that served a low-income population. After years of neglecting these apartments, the owner gave 200 residents notice to vacate within 90 days in the summer of 2015. By then, the surrounding neighborhood of East Liberty was a hopping place to live with low vacancy rates and the average rent much higher than what these residents could afford. There was a large outcry at the time, which only got worse as the owner’s plans for the site were understood. The owner wanted to swap some land with the City and change the zoning district to build a large scale mixed-use development: 54,600 sq ft of retail and 246,090 sq ft of office with accessory parking (see the application materials starting on page 54 from the final Planning Commission review and approval). After months of negotiation with the City and the community, the land and the zone change were given to the development while the affordable housing crisis in Pittsburgh only got worse and the former residents were forced to uproot their lives.

The Penn Plaza Support and Action Coalition has more information on what was promised and what happened as the residents were forced to find new housing.

Photos: The Site

Photos: The Surroundings

Penn Plaza in the News and Additional Resources

Enright Park:

  • City of Pittsburgh project page
  • The Art Commission approved the plans (TribLive, March 23, 2023)
  • The Zoning Board of Adjustment approved a variance to the fence height (ZBA agenda; ZBA application)
  • The Planning Commission approved the plans (TribLive, May 16, 2023; Planning Commission agenda; Planning Commission presentation slides; Planning Commission hearing beginning at 1:06:30)

LG Reatlty moves into new office (Pittsburgh Business Times, June 16, 2023)

City of Pittsburgh project page for the two-conversion of Penn Circle (Euclid Avenue)

City of Pittsburgh project page for pedestrian and traffic improvements to East Liberty

Giant Eagle spoke at a community meeting in January 2023 to share what their plans are for the site that closed and is expected to reopen after redevelopment of the shopping center formerly known as Shady Hill or Shakespeare.

Locating Penn Plaza

Previous Posts in the Series

Keeping an Eye on Penn Plaza – 2022 Recap

Keeping an Eye on Penn Plaza – Jun. 2022

Keeping an Eye on Penn Plaza – Apr. 2021

Keeping an Eye on Penn Plaza – Nov. 2020

Keeping an Eye on Penn Plaza – Aug. 2020

Bridge Collapse: Eighteen Months Later

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According to the Pittsburgh Business Times, the collapse of the Fern Hollow Bridge in Pittsburgh ranked 4th in the top stories of 2022. Ranked higher were the New Normal (#1), Economic Stressors (#2), and the Shutdown of Tech Startups (#3).

As the first bridge collapse in nearly 100 years within the city limits of Pittsburgh, this remains a top story on urbantraipsing. In the six months since our last look at the bridge, there have been four important updates:

  • The preliminary findings of the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation into the collapse have been released
  • The bridge is now fully open to vehicular, bicycle, and pedestrian traffic
  • The two art installations have been installed
  • My feet are back to being fully functional

Update 1: Unsurprisingly, the NTSB’s investigation found that a decade of ignoring the calls for maintenance in the annual bridge inspection resulted in the deterioration of the steel structure of the bridge. The findings reference the inspections of bridges of similar construction in Pennsylvania following the collapse of the Fern Hollow Bridge. It noted that while those bridges have also experienced deferred maintenance, none of them are exhibiting deterioration as bad as Fern Hollow’s. The report did express concern that the status of similar bridges outside of Pennsylvania is unknown.

Update 2: While all lanes, the sidewalk, and multi-modal path are now open, there is evidence of some more work to be done. A little beyond the western end of the bridge, there are the preliminary markings for a crosswalk. Also, a “stop here on red” sign was installed, though it currently faces the park, not the traffic. Both of these suggest that a new traffic light will be installed to create a safe pedestrian crossing.

Update 3: John Peña’s A History of Fern Hollow Creek was installed on the bridge and Carin Mincemoyer’s Trail Meander was installed under the bridge. Mincemoyer’s alternative concept of a rain arch that paid homage to the arch of the former bridge did not move forward as it was found to not be feasible within the time and budget constraints of the project. I enjoyed the historical timeline of the bodies of water on this site illustrated in Peña’s installation – it provides and opportunity to stop and think about the different bodies of water that have shaped the landscape of Pittsburgh over millennia. I haven’t yet cracked the pattern of the order in which they are displayed, if there is one.

Update 4: As I do not currently have any mobility limitations, I was able to take many more pictures from different angles.

Photos: Fern Hollow

Below are the news updates on the Fern Hollow Bridge and other bridge maintenance and replacement efforts in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.

  • The artwork on the bridge was approved by the Public Art + Civic Design Commission in October 26, 2022 (Agenda, Application, Minutes). The artwork for the trail experience under the bridge was approved by the Public Art + Civic Design Commission in March 22, 2023 (Agenda, Application, Minutes).
  • PennDOT’s project page regarding the reconstruction of the bridge has not been updated since March 2022, except to add a sentence at the beginning to say that the bridge is now complete and operational prior to my last update in January, despite the fact that the bridge was fully closed again for a month in June 2023 to “complete all remaining bridge work.” (Mayor’s Press Release, June 8, 2023; WESA, June 8, 2023; Pittsburgh Magazine, June 9, 2023; Roads & Bridges, June 9, 2023; WPXI, June 11, 2023; WTAE, June 12, 2023)
  • Preliminary findings have been released in the National Transportation Safety Board’s ongoing investigation. Corrosion and deterioration of Fern Hollow Bridge’s uncoated weathering steel components is the key finding along. In addition, while the annual inspection of the bridge had identified maintenance activities that would have addressed these issues for over a decade, the maintenance was not completed.
  • The City created a Commission on Infrastructure Asset Reporting and Investment in March 2022, but no one has been appointed to the commission and it hasn’t been added yet to the city’s website listing all Boards and Commissions. Earlier this year, Mayor Gainey (WESA, June 26, 2023) and Councilwoman Strassburger (Pittsburgh Union Progress, April 3, 2023) both discussed the value of the commission – when it is operational. Neither discussed why the Mayor hasn’t appointed anyone to the board yet (Post-Gazette, June 8, 2023).
  • The temporary closure of the Charles Anderson Bridge turned into a long-term closure as expedited funding was negotiated to move the full rehabilitation forward sooner. The project may take until 2025 or 2027 and will include a new 2-way bike lane. The Panther Hollow Overpass will also be repaired while the Charles Anderson Bridge is closed because the overpass “is approaching the end of its functional life” and the road is already closed. (Mayor’s Press Release, March 16, 2023; KDKA, March 17, 2023; KDKA, March 23, 2023; WTAE, April 18, 2023; Patch, April 18, 2023; Post-Gazette, April 18, 2023; WPXI, April 19, 2023; WESA, June 1, 2023; Pittsburgh Engage project page)
  • Pittsburgh’s Swindell Bridge, which closed from July to September 2022 due to falling debris, closed for about a week in April to set-up platforms for future construction and then closed again in July to install new beams. One of the articles says that this will finish the work on the Swindell Bridge, while another says that a full rehabilitation project is yet to come. Pittsburgh’s Engage site only shows the public meeting from April. (Triblive, April 22, 2023; Mayor’s Press Release, April 21, 2023; WTAE, April 27, 2023; Mayor’s Press Release, April 27, 2023; KDKA, July 9, 2023; Pittsburgh Engage page; Mayor’s Press Release, July 7, 2023; Post-Gazette, July 10, 2023)
  • In searching for new news on the South Negley Avenue Bridge, I didn’t find anything new, but I found an article from 2015 that said the renovation of the bridge was scheduled to start 2 years from then – that has come and gone with no new start date in sight. In addition to not finding anything new about what is happening to this poor condition bridge, it’s not clear if the closure of the west sidewalk of the South Negley Avenue Bridge from 2022 officially ended or if pedestrians took matters into their own hands and moved the barriers aside themselves. (The Philadelphia Tribune, February 2, 2015)
  • Construction began on the 30th Street Bridge rehabilitation in April 2023. (Triblive, April 22, 2023; Mayor’s Press Release, April 21, 2023; Pittsburgh Engage page)
  • There’s evidence of that the construction of the new Davis Avenue Bridge is moving forward from the approval of the Public Art + Civic Design (PACD) Commission in March to the listing in the Construction Journal for bids. (Triblive, March 24, 2023; Construction Journal, June 9, 2023; Bridge Engage Page; Public Art Engage page; PACD Agenda, Application, Minutes)
  • Maintenance work on Swinburne Bridge was scheduled for May 2023. Full rehabilitation will happen later, after the Charles Anderson Bridge is reopened as the Swinburne Bridge is part of the detour route. (Mayor’s Press Release, May 19, 2023)
  • The Lincoln Avenue and Fremont Street bridges were closed indefinitely for repair January 2023 by PennDOT to the surprise of Millvale, PA – a small town across the 40th Street Bridge from Pittsburgh – the borough is seeking funding for the repairs (Borough’s Announcement, January 23, 2023)

Photos: Other Bridges

Historic Pittsburgh Bridge Disasters

According to Bob Regan’s 2006 book “The Bridges of Pittsburgh,” Pittsburgh is no stranger to bridge disasters:

  • 1845 – The original Smithfield Street Bridge burned down
  • 1851 – The 16th Street Bridge burned down
  • 1865 – Two spans of the 16th Street Bridge was washed away in a flood
  • late 1880s – The 6th Street/St. Clair Street Bridge burned down
  • 1903 – The Wabash Bridge collapsed during construction
  • 1918 – The 16th Street Bridge burned down (again)
  • 1921 – The 30th Street Bridge burned down
  • 1927 – The Mount Washington Roadway Bridge collapsed during construction

Map of bridges discussed in the Bridge Collapse series:

Additional Resources:

Both PennDOT and the Federal Highway Administration have interactive maps of bridges for the state and country respective, and their inspection statuses. Pittsburgh now has the static Comprehensive Bridge Asset Management Program Report of the 147 bridges owned by the City of Pittsburgh.

Bridges in Pittsburgh with community engagement pages for pending rehabilitation or replacement projects:

Previous Fern Hollow Bridge Posts:

One-Year Update

Eleven-Month Update

Six-Month Update

Five-Month Update

Four-Month Update

Two-Month Update

One-Month Update

Two-Week Update

One-Week Update

Day After

Breaking News

Keeping an Eye on Penn Plaza: 2022 Recap

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What’s New in 2022

Phase 1 of the Penn Plaza redevelopment opened in 2022, seven years after the initial eviction notices went to the low-income residents of the former Penn Plaza Apartments. The redevelopment is a new retail/office complex that is being constructed in place of the former 519-unit affordable housing complex.

The new building is called Liberty East. Whole Foods is the anchor retail tenant and Duolingo is the first office tenant. An area about twice the size of the footprint of this building remains an untouched meadow with broken pavement scattered throughout and surrounded by a 6-foot high chain link fence. One day, future phases of this redevelopment will begin. In the meantime, changes are starting on land surrounding the site.

  • Across Penn Avenue, the East Liberty Lutheran Church sold its property in August, seven years after first listing it. By December, the site was completely demolished and leveled – ready for whatever comes next.
  • On the other side of Penn Plaza, a two-story, garden apartment building is showing the first signs of renovation.
  • Behind the new building, Euclid Ave and, further down, Station Street are in the initial stages of being converted back to two-way after the 1960s Urban Renewal project that created the Penn Circle ring road.
  • On the opposite site of East Liberty’s commercial core, the affordable Giant Eagle closed for the redevelopment of that shopping plaza.

Background

The former Penn Plaza Apartments was a group of large of apartments buildings that served a low-income population. After years of neglecting these apartments, the owner gave the remaining 200 residents notice to vacate within 90 days in the summer of 2015. By then, the surrounding neighborhood of East Liberty was a hopping place to live with low vacancy rates and the average rent much higher than what these residents could afford. There was a large outcry at the time, which only got worse as the owner’s plans for the site were understood. The owner wanted to swap some land with the City and change the zoning district to build a large scale mixed-use development: 54,600 sq ft of retail and 246,090 sq ft of office with accessory parking (see the application materials starting on page 54 from the final Planning Commission review and approval). After months of negotiation with the City and the community, the land and the zone change were given to the development while the affordable housing crisis in Pittsburgh only got worse and the former residents were forced to uproot their lives.

The Penn Plaza Support and Action Coalition has more information on what was promised and what happened as the residents were forced to find new housing.

Photos: The Site

Photos: The Surroundings

Penn Plaza in the News

The site:

The surroundings:

  • East Liberty Lutheran Church’s sale (Pittsburgh Business Times, August 2, 2022)
  • Giant Eagle closure (East Liberty Development, June 17, 2022)
  • Echo Realty presented the redevelopment of the Giant Eagle shopping center to Pittsburgh’s Planning Commission (Pittsburgh Business Times, November 15, 2022) and got approval (Public Source, November 29, 2022; Pittsburgh Business Times, November 29, 2022)

Locating Penn Plaza

Previous Posts in the Series

Keeping an Eye on Penn Plaza – Jun. 2022

Keeping an Eye on Penn Plaza – Apr. 2021

Keeping an Eye on Penn Plaza – Nov. 2020

Keeping an Eye on Penn Plaza – Aug. 2020

Homage in Bridge Reconstruction

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I’ve written before about how some bridges pay homage to the ones they replaced. Pittsburgh’s Greenfield and Heth’s Run Bridges did this. When writing about those bridges, I assumed that this approach might reassure a community by honoring the local memory and thereby maintaining a sense of stability. However, this was only a guess. While I had used the old Heth’s Run Bridge hundreds of times, I didn’t know it was a bridge until shortly before its replacement and most of its characteristics features had been removed, buried, or eroded long before. I don’t know if I had ever been on the Greenfield Bridge before the day I intentionally walked it for this blog. So I had no emotional connection to that bridge. Therefore, I cannot speak personally about the homage these bridges paid to the past.

When I arrived in East Stroudsburg, the blood-red, rounded through-truss bridge was no longer there (officially, it was a Warren pony truss style). This bridge had been an important landmark for me as a child, probably because its design was distinctive. It made me smile when I saw the new bridge had paid homage to the shape of the former truss. While the change of color and style of the bridge was significant, I felt a sense of comfort at the continuity created by the way the new design acknowledged the former bridge.

Down the hill from this bridge is the Interborough Bridge. This bridge connecting East Stroudsburg and Stroudsburg used to be a through-truss, possibly also a Warren pony truss bridge. When it was destroyed by a flood in 1955, the replacement did not pay homage to the past. The plain replacement bridge is very utilitarian and not much else. My foot had reached the end of its stamina before I was able to walk across it on this trip – which was actually a relief. I walked across it at least once when I was a kid. I remember it feeling unpleasant. There are sidewalks, but the proportion of vehicles lanes is quite large, cars move fast, and either end features auto-oriented uses. The one nice feature of the bridge are the views of Brodheads Creek, but there are plenty other more pleasant vantage points to view the creek.

In another form of homage, Brodheads Creek, the dividing line between East Stroudsburg and Stroudsburg, is named after Daniel Brodhead. On this trip, I learned that in 1737 Daniel was the first white settler in the area to purchase his land from the descendants of William Penn instead of the Lenni Lenape, the indigenous people who still lived on the land. Although, Penn began purchasing the land that the King of England had given him from the Lenape in 1683, it seems that the area around East Stroudsburg and Stroudsburg had not been purchased by the Penn family before they started selling it to settlers. The Walking Purchase of 1737 attempted to resolve this issue, though it seems the terms of the purchase were not explained clearly the Lenni Lenape beforehand. (Monroe County Historical Association, November 11, 2005; Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission)

Stroudsburg’s Bridges

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Speaking of federal highways built after WWII (potentially through communities), Interstate Route 80 runs through Stroudsburg and East Stroudsburg. President Johnson mentions the recent completion of this highway in his letter to Stroudsburg’s mayor celebrating the borough’s sesquicentennial:

The recent completion of the Interstate Highways through the Poconos has made Stroudsburg and the communities around it more accessible than ever before. The Federal Government is proud to have played an important role in this acheivement.

Letter from President Johnson dated May 31, 1965

I do not know if any communities were demolished to build this interstate highway. It is likely that the presence of this interstate is part of the reason why some New Yorkers chose to relocate here following 9/11. It is certain that some of the local bridges owe part or all of their existence to this interstate. Many of the local bridges also owe their existence to the several creeks in the area.

The Seventh Street Bridge spans both Route 80 and McMichael’s Creek. (According to signs on this bridge it’s name is Sherrifs Forrest B. Sebring and Todd A. Martin Bridge, but the Pocono Record’s article on the renaming of this bridge highlights the controversy and public backlash to this renaming which was led by a State Representative.) Further east, the freeway and the creek are farther apart and so two separate bridges carry Broad Street over both obstacles. Heading back west, another bridge carries Main Street over Pocono Creek.

Pocono Creek and its bridge (the J. Summerfield Staples Memorial Bridge) appear to mark the western boundary of the historic core of town. On the other side of the bridge, there is an uptick in the number and frequency of auto-oriented uses and building designs.

Seventh Street Bridge

Seventh Street Bridge
View from Seventh Street Bridge 1
View from Seventh Street Bridge 2

Broad Street Bridges

Broad Street Bridge 1
View from Broad Street Bridge 1
Broad Street Bridge 2
View from Broad Street Bridge 2

J. Summerfield Staples Memorial Bridge

Staples Memorial Bridge
Looking South: Pocono Creek
Looking North: Pocono Creek
Looking West: Auto-oriented
Looking East: Historic Core

Urban Renewal in the Stroudsburgs

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After WWII, while the federal government was building highways — sometimes through communities — and subsidizing and incentivizing the construction and purchase of detached single-family dwellings — that is, if you were of the “right” race, ethnicity, and economic level, — there was a growing sense that cities, and perhaps even towns, weren’t safe places to live. As people and jobs, or jobs and people, or some people and jobs starting leaving cities in large numbers, the cities started looking for ways to reinvent themselves to reattract people and jobs in order to survive. Pittsburgh was a leader at that time, inventing and defining the process of Urban Renewal. Other cities like Bethlehem looked up to Pittsburgh and tried to adopt the strategies and techniques of Urban Renewal used in Pittsburgh. Often these cities, as illustrated by Bethlehem, lacked the resources and power to pull off Urban Renewal on the same scale as Pittsburgh.

Revisiting the once familiar environs of Stroudsburg (pop. 5,950) and East Stroudsburg (pop. 9,669), I realized that even these small towns adopted practices and principals of Urban Renewal. And similar to the pairing of Allentown (pop. 125,944) and Bethlehem (pop.75,624), the larger of the two municipalities implemented more Urban Renewal projects while the smaller implemented more historic preservation practices.

Below is a very biased sample of the the Urban Renewal practices I believe I identified in the Stroudsburgs:

Urban Renewal Practice #1 – The Ring Road

Both boroughs contain a partial or complete loop of one-way streets around portions of their downtowns. This traffic pattern now appears to me as strongly reminiscent of the circles Pittsburgh built around important commercial neighborhoods – which subsequently nearly died, possibly because they were already dying, but probably aided by being choked off by these ring roads. In Stroudsburg and East Stroudsburg, it didn’t appear that the ring road has the same sort of death grip on the commercial enterprises they encircled. Several of the business I remembered were still operating and I didn’t notice significant numbers of vacant properties – though the couple vacant businesses I noticed were in East Stroudsburg. However, they weren’t areas that were tempting to explore more closely because they were sites developed along the second Urban Renewal practice.

Urban Renewal Practice #2 – Auto-oriented Uses

Both boroughs contained drive-through businesses in the center of their ring roads. In addition, strip malls are off to the right as you enter each borough on the ring road. In Stroudsburg, the auto-oriented uses felt like they were tightly centered on the ring road; nearby and spilling into the ring road was a dense, walkable downtown. On the other hand, in East Stroudsburg, it felt like the auto-oriented uses were spilling beyond the immediate environs of the ring road and into what was presumably once a much more extensive dense, walkable downtown.

Urban Renewal Practice #3 – Demolition for Underutilized Parking Lots

Part of what made the experience in East Stroudsburg feel more auto-oriented was the larger number of visible paved lots, presumably for parking, but largely empty. While I was most likely day-dreaming about the plot of my latest story featuring either princesses or cowboys when I previously spent time in downtown East Stroudsburg, there was a feeling of familiarity in the near empty parking lots suggesting that I would have felt uncomfortable if they were actually parked to capacity in the same way I felt uncomfortable passing locations where trees I used to know had been cut down.

Stroudsburg’s Ring Road Encompasses Auto-Oriented uses
Walkable Downtown Spills into Stroudsburg’s Ring Road
East Stroudsburg’s Ring Road (left two roads) with Auto-oriented Uses Spilling beyond the Ring (mid-frame parking lot)

The Story of the Spires – Stroudsburg

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One of the key ingredients for the stability component of “home” is safety. In the aftermath of 9/11, there was a concern about the safety of living in cities and living in New York in particular. The Pennsylvania boroughs of Stroudsburg and East Stroudsburg were among the places considered safe by those leaving New York City. Knowing this going in and comparing it to the lessons learned from Bethlehem, I assumed that the religious buildings would reflect a sense of stability.

Of the two boroughs, Stroudsburg has a more centralized concentration of religious buildings that was easy for me to explore on foot within the limitations of my post-injury recovery phase. The results of this survey confirmed my hypothesis. Of the seven buildings I found, only one was converted to a secular use. Another one appeared to be having a renovation of it’s primary entrance but was still looked actively used as a church. (Facebook confirmed that it is still active with a video of the Polish language mass from a few days before the date I looked it up.) A third building was a storefront that is a First Church of Christ, Scientist.

Comparing Stroudsburg with other Pennsylvania towns where I’ve explored the status of religious buildings, it fits the pattern well. Stroudsburg’s peak population was in 1950, the same as Pittsburgh and Wilkinsburg. Below is an updated chart of the population loss for these cities and a broad impression of the state of their religious buildings.

CityPopulation Loss Since Peak (Peak Year)Status of Religious Buildings
Bethlehem1% (1960)Primarily active sacred uses
Erie26% (1960)Primarily active sacred uses
Homestead85% (1920)Significant numbers closed or converted to secular uses
Pittsburgh55% (1950)Significant numbers closed or converted to secular uses
Stroudsburg14% (1950)Primarily active sacred uses
Wilkinsburg49% (1950)Significant numbers closed or converted to secular uses

Memory and Stability

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I found myself making the sudden, sharp s-turn unto the Washington Crossing Bridge as a result of taking an opportunity to revisit scenes from my childhood. I have had a growing interest in returning to my first hometown partly to explore scenes the reflect concepts I encounter in my professional zoning life and partly due to the jealousy I felt when many of my friends were able to “go back home” in the early depths of the pandemic.

It’s been a quarter of a century since I had a place that I considered home in the sense of the homes that my friends found refuge in during the pandemic. While I’ve always had a roof over my head at a place where I lived and therefore a home, the deeper kind of home is a unique blend of people, place, memory, and stability. Pittsburgh is the closest substitute I have for a hometown, but one of my central themes when writing about Pittsburgh and the places within it is change. Last year’s Then and Now series focused on the changes to or around Pittsburgh’s bridges. The on-going Keeping an Eye On series is tracking major changes as they happen. And though I’ve researched lots, I’ve written less about the adaptive reuse of religious buildings in the city, a theme which also focuses on change.

There were changes when I went back to my first hometown. The house I grew up in has been painted, the backyard has been fenced in, and several important trees have been removed, including the one I crashed my bike into one summer.—They say once you learn, you never forget how to ride a bike. In my experience, once you crash into a tree because you forgot how to ride a bike, you never forget again.—Most of these changes I was already aware of from visiting a few years after we moved away. What struck me the most on this return visit was how much had stayed the same:

  • The chain link fence with slats that we used to love finding the gaps to peak through to see what was so secretly hidden.
  • The yellow safety rails were still there and still rusted.
  • All the houses on the block, except ours, were the same color with the same lack of fencing as I remembered, though one now has solar panels.
  • The year-round costume shop, the existence of which always fascinated me and that I still don’t understand how they survive 12 months in a row, let alone decades worth of 12 months in a row.
  • The bagel shop that made the best bagels, though apparently nobody orders just a bagel with nothing on it anymore and while the inside of the bagel tasted the same, it no longer had the smooth skin on the outside.
  • The local bank where I had my first savings account is still operating under the same bank name.
  • The ice cream shop with the best ice cream, though unfortunately its limited hours of operation did not coincide with the days I was in town.
  • The used bookstore, where I believe I bought my first Zane Grey novel and where I found several gems on this trip.

There is a narrow band of stability between stagnation and growth. This stability enables places like those listed above that are imbibed with memories to survive and provide a sense of the familiar, of comfort, and of home.

Bridge Collapse: One Year+ Later

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Irony? Serendipity? A sign I’ve walked too many bridges? It’s been one year since Pittsburgh’s Fern Hollow Bridge collapsed into Frick Park and another important arterial bridge is now closed and I am once again unable to fully explore due to another foot injury.

Shortly after the Fern Hollow Bridge collapsed, photos of temporary wires holding up the Charles Anderson Bridge supplementing the original metal structure that had rusted all the way through in places peppered social media and made the news with the question of would this be the next bridge to collapse? On February 1, 2023, the Charles Anderson Bridge was “immediately closed” to vehicular traffic (press release). Those with fully functioning limbs are still able to walk or bike across or under the bridge – it passes over another one of Pittsburgh’s major parks (Schenley Park).

The bridge was closed to facilitate interim repairs that may take four months. The bridge has been slated for a full rehabilitation for several years (see the City’s project page for more). The original projection was that this project would be funded this year, but according to a press release from the Mayor’s office on February 2, the expected funds have been delayed until 2027 and the City is looking for ways to expedite the funding.

Also, along the lines of serendipity, I happened to be browsing my copy of Bob Regan’s “The Bridges of Pittsburgh” (2006) this week for unrelated reasons and came across the section “Bridge Disasters.” The section opens with the statement: “Although Pittsburgh area bridges are quite safe and there has been an absence of bridge problems in modern times, this was not always the case.” (page 50) After identifying several of the bridge disasters from pre-modern times (summarized below), he ends this section with “Since that time [1927] there has not been a bridge collapse in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and there has never been a collapse of an operating bridge. However, this record was somewhat blemished in late 2005 with the collapse of a portion (one side girder) of a bridge over I-70 near Washington, PA.” (page 51) Of course, any updated version of the book will now have to strike this claim due to the 2022 collapse of the operating Fern Hollow Bridge.

Driving over the new Fern Hollow Bridge this week, it looked in pretty much the same condition as in December with one lane of traffic in each direction and one shared path open. There were several bikers and pedestrians using it while we crossed during the latter part of rush hour.

Bridge disasters highlighted in “The Bridges of Pittsburgh:”

  • 1845 – The original Smithfield Street Bridge burned down
  • 1851 – The 16th Street Bridge burned down
  • 1865 – Two spans of the 16th Street Bridge was washed away in a flood
  • late 1880s – The 6th Street/St. Clair Street Bridge burned down
  • 1903 – The Wabash Bridge collapsed during construction
  • 1918 – The 16th Street Bridge burned down (again)
  • 1921 – The 30th Street Bridge burned down
  • 1927 – The Mount Washington Roadway Bridge collapsed during construction
Charles Anderson Bridge, February 10, 2023

Below are the news updates on the Fern Hollow Bridge and other bridge maintenance and replacement efforts in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.

  • The proposed artwork for the new bridge is among the elements not yet completed. I didn’t find any new information on this since the NextPittsburgh article of September 26, 2022, that I cited in the December update.
  • PennDOT’s project page regarding the reconstruction of the bridge has not been updated since March 2022, except to add a sentence at the beginning to say that the bridge is now complete and operational, despite the fact that it is not fully open yet due to ongoing work/finishing touches.
  • The National Transportation Safety Board’s ongoing investigation into the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse was updated on January 26, 2023, with details of what has been investigated to date including photos of some of the parts of the collapsed bridge. It also now contains a link to a preliminary docket of materials that have been gathered in the investigation. They are still working out the cause of the collapse and recommendations to prevent such incidents in future.
  • The City created a Commission on Infrastructure Asset Reporting and Investment in March 2022, but this commission has not been added yet to the city’s website listing all Boards and Commissions and I have not seen any announcements of any appointments to the new Commission.
  • Pittsburgh’s Swindell Bridge, which closed from July to September 2022 due to falling debris, is currently under lane restrictions and is expected to close for a month later this year for additional repairs. (Pittsburgh Union Progress, February 12, 2023)
  • The closure of the west sidewalk of the South Negley Avenue Bridge doesn’t phase some people as they by-pass the barriers and continue on their way, in fact one of the barriers had been completely moved aside the last time I drove across the bridge, presumably by someone who found it in their way.
  • The Lincoln Avenue and Fremont Street bridges were closed for repair January 2023 by PennDOT in Millvale, PA – a small town across the 40th Street Bridge from Pittsburgh (WPXI, January 27, 2023)

Map of bridges discussed in the Bridge Collapse series:

Additional Resources:

Both PennDOT and the Federal Highway Administration have interactive maps of bridges for the state and country respective, and their inspection statuses. Pittsburgh now has the static Comprehensive Bridge Asset Management Program Report of the 147 bridges owned by the City of Pittsburgh.

Bridges in Pittsburgh with community engagement pages for pending rehabilitation or replacement projects:

Previous Fern Hollow Bridge Posts:

Eleven-Month Update

Six-Month Update

Five-Month Update

Four-Month Update

Two-Month Update

One-Month Update

Two-Week Update

One-Week Update

Day After

Breaking News

Bridge Collapse: Eleven Months Later

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Six months after Pittsburgh’s Fern Hollow Bridge collapse, PennDOT and the Mayor’s office announced that the new bridge would probably open before the end of the year. The ribbon cutting for the new bridge was held on December 21 (Governor Tom Wolf News, WPXI, Pittsburgh Business Times) and the bridge opened to partial traffic the following day. There is one lane of traffic open in each direction and one “shared path” open on the south side of the bridge. Work on the bridge will continue through the spring.

The initial designs showed a bridge designed for highway vehicle traffic with pedestrian and bicycle access tacked on in a thoughtless way. Despite public outcry and professional push-back, the initial designs went primarily unchanged. As the bridge is not fully open, there is a chance that in execution it won’t be as bad as the initial design suggested, but it’s not off to a promising start.

The shared path on the south side – the one that’s now open – connects to sidewalk on the east side of the bridge and to the trails in Frick Park on the west side. There is no existing sidewalk to continue walking along Forbes Avenue to Squirrel Hill. While this path is unusually wide for a bridge, it appeared to be just a sidewalk when I visited it this week. I adopted the term “shared path” based on the videos of the ribbon cutting, which claimed that’s what it is. Perhaps there will be signage added eventually that bikes are also permitted, but I didn’t notice a way for bikes to get up onto this path from the road. While I’m clearly judging this bridge already and finding it wanting, I will continue to monitor its progress and will be open to finding it better than I do now once all the amenities are open and I’m no longer confronted with pedestrian dead end signs.

Below is a slideshow of photos from this month’s traipsing of the bridge followed by the news updates on the Fern Hollow Bridge and other bridge maintenance and replacement efforts in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.

  • The City announced traffic pattern changes now that the bridge is reopening, breaking up one of the smooth travel paths for vehicles trying to cross the eastern neighborhoods on a north-south axis. (City Press Release, December 22, 2022)
  • The proposed artwork for the new bridge is among the elements not yet completed. (NextPittsburgh, September 26, 2022)
  • For whatever reason, PennDOT’s project page regarding the reconstruction of the bridge has not been updated since March 2022, making it a completely useless resource.
  • The National Transportation Safety Board’s ongoing investigation into the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse was last updated in May 2022, but this was initially described as a long-term effort.
  • The City created a Commission on Infrastructure Asset Reporting and Investment in March 2022, but this commission has not been added yet to the city’s website listing all Boards and Commissions and I have not seen any announcements of any appointments to the new Commission.
  • WSP USA released it’s Comprehensive Bridge Asset Management Program Report of the 147 bridges owned by the City of Pittsburgh – lots of work needs to be done on Pittsburgh’s bridges. (City Press Release, December 22, 2022; Tribune Review, December 21, 2022; WPXI, December 22, 2022)
  • The City of Pittsburgh’s 2023 Capital Budget includes limited funding for bridge repair and maintenance. (Public Source, December 5 & 22, 2022)
  • The bridge Port Authority closed to repair shortly after the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse, and then had to re-repair in July, seems to be okay now.
  • On July 1, Pittsburgh’s Swindell Bridge was closed due to falling debris. It reopened on September 1. (City Press Release, September 1, 2022; CBS, September 1, 2022; WPXI, September 1, 2022)
  • The Finland Street Pedestrian Bridge underwent an emergency demolition on October after being struck by a crane attempted to pass underneath. (City Press Release, October 7, 2022; City Press Release, October 8, 2022)
  • The City of Pittsburgh announced in November that it was going to close the east sidewalk on the South Negley Avenue Bridge (one of the bridges that the public is concerned about its highly deteriorate appearance) out of an “abundance of caution” to accommodate repairs, however, it was the west sidewalk that ended up closing. (City Press Release, November 23, 2022)
  • A public hearing was held on the Davis Avenue Bridge Reconstruction project in September. (City Press Release, September 28, 2022)

Additional Resources:

Both PennDOT and the Federal Highway Administration have interactive maps of bridges for the state and country respective, and their inspection statuses.

Previous Fern Hollow Bridge Posts:

Six-Month Update

Five-Month Update

Four-Month Update

Two-Month Update

One-Month Update

Two-Week Update

One-Week Update

Day After

Breaking News