 
|
|||||||||
              
|
Glenwood Bridge view disappears
Wednesday, December 13, 2000 By Joe Grata, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
The Glenwood Bridge is no longer a bridge with a view.
When Allegheny County renovated the four-lane span over the Monongahela River this year, railings that afforded a view of the river valley were replaced with 42-inch-tall solid concrete barriers.
Because the top of the barriers is about eye level with people in cars, drivers and passengers are no longer able to glance at boats in the river, summer activity at the Sandcastle water park, flood conditions on the Mon, barges plowing through ice in winter or much of the river valley.
They also can't see much of opposing traffic, because another 42-inch barrier separates the northbound and southbound lanes.
Only a low, 2-foot-wide concrete "rumble strip" separated the lanes before the $12 million bridge redecking project.
Drivers have likened the revised design with the high barriers to a "concrete chute" and complained about a "tunnel effect" in calls and e-mails to the Post-Gazette.
"We've gotten complaints about blocking the view, too," county Public Works Director Tom Donatelli said. "We [used 42-inch-tall barriers] as a requirement for the federal funding we received" for the project.
Donatelli said engineers were now in a quandary about the Homestead High-Level Bridge, the next bridge up the Mon and the next bridge up for renovation by the county, probably in 2002.
Replacing low, open railings with 42-inch concrete barriers would block views of rapidly expanding development at The Waterfront, which the southern end of the bridge crosses, and impede sight lines of Homestead and the hillside.
"That's not something we want to do," Donatelli said. The county will wait for the outcome of the dispute over railings for the Fort Pitt Bridge project before giving direction to the Homestead High-Level Bridge design consultant.
The Liberty Bridge over the Mon is an example of how design and safety standards have changed and differ.
A federally funded, $32.5 million renovation done in 1982-83 included removing the sidewalk on the inbound side and replacing open, ornamental railing with a concrete barrier that is 32 inches tall and sitting right next to a traffic lane, with no curb or other separation.
Views of the Downtown skyline, Duquesne Bluff, Parkway East and the river were preserved. Some drivers have expressed concerns and paranoia over the years about crashing and plummeting into the river, but no vehicle has yet climbed the barrier and taken the plunge.
|
||||||||
