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Friday, November 01, 2002

By Joe Grata, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Groups that fought to preserve the vista of Pittsburgh's rivers and skyline for motorists emerging from the Fort Pitt Tunnel yesterday unveiled their preferred barrier with a view.

	Lisa Schroeder, executive director of the Riverlife Task Force, talks to a reporter yesterday at the Byham Theater as she stands next to the "Pennsylvania Barrier." The barriers will be installed on the upper deck of the Fort Pitt Bridge when it is rehabilitated next year. (Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette)

Lisa Schroeder, executive director of the Riverlife Task Force, said traffic barriers with openings will be installed on the Fort Pitt Bridge as well as on the 16th Street Bridge, McArdle Roadway, the 31st Street Bridge and the Homestead Grays Bridge.

"Each bridge will have a special design," she said in explaining how the new barriers will differ from the 42-inch-high monolithic concrete barriers that the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and other agencies have been specifying in engineering contracts.

Called "Pennsylvania Barrier," the custom model that will be installed on the upper, inbound deck of the Fort Pitt Bridge when it is rehabilitated next year, was displayed yesterday at a construction seminar at the Byham Theater, Downtown. It provides 9-inch-high windows of sight between horizontal steel rails anchored to a 24-inch-high concrete base.

PennDOT had planned to install tall, solid concrete barriers that would have blocked the city sight lines -- "Pittsburgh's calling card," Schroeder said -- until the Riverlife Task Force and its supporters interceded, taking their case all the way to former Gov. Tom Ridge.

PennDOT formed a task force, which included representatives from the Riverlife Task Force, the Pittsburgh Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and other organizations. The Heinz Endowments appropriated special funding and PennDOT brought in an engineering consultant.

They came up with the Pennsylvania Barrier, which the Federal Highway Administration has since certified as meeting crash and safety standards for use, under special circumstances, on interstate highways such as Interstate 279 on the Fort Pitt Bridge.

The Riverlife Task Force also prevailed upon PennDOT to use a similar style barrier along most of the Boulevard of the Allies between the Liberty Bridge and South Oakland when the mile-long section atop the hillside overlooking the Monongahela River was rebuilt in 2001.

"We designed the barrier with both safety and that spectacular view in mind," state Transportation Secretary Brad Mallory said. "It protects motorists and preserves the grand entrance to Pittsburgh, the famous panoramic view."

The barrier was the highlight of the 75-minute seminar at which upcoming projects were discussed by PennDOT, the city, Allegheny County, Port Authority and Sports & Exhibition Authority.