User:Caroig/Sandbox/Bridge

{{Geobox|Bridge}} The Homestead Grays Bridge, also known as the Pittsburgh-Homestead High-Level Bridge, was built in 1936 and spans the Monongahela River between Homestead and Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood. It is notable as the first bridge to utilize the Wichert Truss, which uses a quadrilateral shape over each support. This made the truss statically determinate, so that forces in the structural members could be calculated.

On 11 July 2002, the bridge was officially renamed the Homestead Grays Bridge in honor of the Homestead Grays baseball team.

The bridge is currently in disrepair, and has not seen major work completed since 1979. Work began in January 2006 to rehabilitate the bridge. The deck was removed and the structure stripped down to the steel, then the steel was repaired and a new, wider deck was added, giving drivers three feet more space on each side and pedestrians a slightly wider sidewalk. Finally, historically-accurate railings and lighting will be restored and the bridge will be painted gray.

Bridge railing pattern

See also

• List of crossings of the Monongahela River

External links

• Pittsburgh bridges
• "Homestead Grays Bridge work set for March" (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
• Homestead span honors baseball team — Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article on the renaming of the Homestead Grays Bridge
• Why was it called the "High-Level" Bridge? — Pittsburgh City Paper column explaining some of the history of the bridge