The Hot Metal Bridge is a

truss bridge A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, that crosses the

Monongahela River The Monongahela River ( , )—often referred to locally as the Mon ()—is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 15, 2011 river on the Allegheny Plateau in North Cen ...

. The bridge consists of two parallel spans on a single set of piers: the former

Monongahela Connecting Railroad The Monongahela Connecting Railroad or Mon Conn is a small industrial railroad in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was a subsidiary of the Jones & Laughlin Steel Company and a large portion of its work was for its parent company, though it also serv ...

Bridge, built in 1887, on the upstream side and the former Hot Metal Bridge, built in 1900, on the downstream side. The Monongahela Connecting Railroad Bridge carried conventional railroad traffic, while the Hot Metal Bridge connected parts of the

J&L Steel The Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation began as the American Iron Company, founded in 1852 by Bernard Lauth and Benjamin Franklin Jones, a few miles (c 4 km) south of Pittsburgh along the Monongahela River. Lauth's interest was bought in ...

mill, carrying crucibles of molten iron from the blast furnaces in

ladle transfer car A ladle transfer car is a material handling tool which is used in foundries A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mol ...

s to the open hearth furnaces on the opposite bank to be converted to steel. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

15% of America's steel making capacity crossed over the Hot Metal Bridge, up to 180 tons per hour. The upstream span was converted to road use after a $14.6 million restoration, and opened by Mayor Tom Murphy with a ceremony honoring former steel workers on June 23, 2000. The bridge connects 2nd Avenue at the Pittsburgh Technology Center in South

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

with Hot Metal Street (South 29th Street) in the South Side. The downstream span reopened for pedestrian and bicycle use in late 2007 after two years of work. The

Great Allegheny Passage The Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) is a rail trail between Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Cumberland, Maryland. Together with the C&O Canal towpath, the GAP is part of a route between Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C., that is popular with through ...

hiker/biker trail passes over this bridge as it approaches Pittsburgh's

Golden Triangle Golden Triangle may refer to: Places Asia * Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia), named for its opium production * Golden Triangle (Yangtze), China, named for its rapid economic development * Golden Triangle (India), comprising the popular tourist ...

area. The

Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation (PHLF) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1964 to support the preservation of historic buildings and neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. In 1966, PHLF established the Revolving Fund for ...

was responsible for managing the decorative lighting project for the bridge, which was lit with energy-efficient

light-emitting diode A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (cor ...

(LED) and

optical fiber An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a means to ...

technology on June 12, 2008. The Hot Metal Bridge was inducted into the

North America Railway Hall of Fame North America Railway Hall of Fame (NARHF) is a not-for-profit organization housed in the recently restored Canada Southern Railway Station in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada. It was founded to maintain, preserve and honor railway history with the i ...

in 2016.

Popular culture

The Hot Metal Bridge is the namesake of the defunct Hot Metal Grille at the nearby

SouthSide Works SouthSide Works is an open-air retail, office, entertainment, and residential complex (often referred to as a lifestyle center) located on the South Side of the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. and just across the Monongahela River from th ...

shopping center and also is the name of the online magazine of the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

, a literary magazine. The bridge was in several scenes of the 2011 film ''

Warrior A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracies, class, or caste. History Warriors seem to have been p ...

'' starring

Jennifer Morrison Jennifer Marie Morrison is an American actress, director, producer, and former child model. She is mainly known for her roles as Dr. Allison Cameron in the medical-drama series ''House'' (2004–2012) and Emma Swan in the ABC adventure-fantasy s ...

and

Nick Nolte Nicholas King Nolte (born February 8, 1941) is an American actor. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1991 film ''The Prince of Tides''. He received ...

References

External links

* *
Hot Metal Bridge
at pghbridges.com
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
- Official reopening of the bridge after the conversion
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
- Article on conversion of bridge to pedestrian and bicycle use
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
- High bids threaten the conversion project
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
- Groundbreaking on the new project {{Pittsburgh Bridges Bridges in Pittsburgh Bridges over the Monongahela River Bridges completed in 1887 Bridges completed in 1900 Historic American Engineering Record in Pennsylvania Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmarks Road bridges in Pennsylvania Railroad bridges in Pennsylvania Pedestrian bridges in Pennsylvania Truss bridges in the United States Metal bridges in the United States 1887 establishments in Pennsylvania

Popular culture

See also

References

External links