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Compromise saves view of Downtown from Fort Pitt span

Thursday, April 04, 2002

By Joe Grata, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

People who fought to preserve the vista of Pittsburgh from the inbound deck of the heavily traveled Fort Pitt Bridge no longer have anything to rail about.

	Graphic: Preserving the view

The design for a new barrier -- being introduced as the "Pennsylvania barrier" in engineering circles -- provides for two separate 9-inch-high "windows" of sight between horizontal steel rails anchored to a 24-inch-high concrete base.

"They are the maximum openings we could get" and still comply with federal regulations pertaining to strength, safety and crash standards for interstate highways, said Lisa Schroeder, director of the Riverlife Task Force, which has spearheaded a campaign for a barrier that preserves the view. "We're very excited about the results. We think the design will spread nationwide."

The Federal Highway Administration is expected to approve the new barrier soon, so the steel posts, rails, brackets and hardware can be fabricated and shipped before repairs start on the inbound Fort Pitt Tunnel and Bridge one year from now.

Trumbull Corp., prime contractor for the $84.2 million rehabilitation, will close the outbound tunnel and bridge for five months starting at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

For that lower deck of the dual-level bridge, PennDOT specified a "Texas HT" barrier. Although it is also 50 inches high, a single rail mounted on a 32-inch-high concrete base does not provide as much of a view as the new Pennsylvania barrier.

"We paid careful attention to the views from a sedan," which would have been blocked if PennDOT had gone ahead with original plans to replace the existing barriers with solid, 42-inch-high concrete barriers, Schroeder said.

The parallel steel rails of the Pennsylvania barrier are only 4 inches in height, leaving a 9-inch opening between the concrete base and the first rail, and another 9-inch opening between the first rail and the second rail.

To aid in the design, video was taken of actual experiences -- and views -- driving across the inbound Fort Pitt Bridge.

The pictures were entered into a computer and overlaid with Pennsylvania barrier designs that were adjusted based on computer simulations.

The Riverlife Task Force, co-chaired by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Editor John G. Craig Jr. and retired PNC Bank Chairman Thomas O'Brien, rallied Mayor Tom Murphy, County Chief Executive Jim Roddey and influential business, civic and political leaders to take the case for saving the panorama to former Gov. Tom Ridge.

Although other federally approved barrier options were available, Ridge and his transportation secretary, Brad Mallory, authorized forming a task force to design a barrier that would not only better preserve scenic sight lines but might give truckers better protection from tipping, overturning and losing control.

Eloise Hirsh, former Pittsburgh planning director who chaired the committee, called the Pennsylvania barrier "a really good solution."

The Riverlife Task Force and local leaders also prevailed upon PennDOT last year when the outbound side of the Boulevard of the Allies was rebuilt from Downtown to South Oakland, where PennDOT also proposed installing a solid concrete barrier that was 42 inches high.

As a compromise, and to preserve the view of the Mon River Valley, South Side and South Side Slopes, PennDOT agreed to keep the same 32-inch height as the old barrier -- solid concrete on bridges and a 16-inch concrete base topped by two rails along roadway portions.