View source for Roberto Clemente Bridge

{{short description|Bridge in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox bridge
| name                = Roberto Clemente Bridge
| native_name         = 
| native_name_lang    = 
| official_name       = Roberto Clemente Bridge
| other_name          = Sixth Street Bridge
| named_for           = [[Roberto Clemente]]
<!-- image --> 
| image               = Pittsburgh Pirates Game 254.jpg
| caption             = The Bridge with [[Downtown Pittsburgh]] in the background.
<!-- location -->
| coordinates         = {{coord|40|26|44.1594|N|80|0|11.8794|W|display=inline,title}} 
| locale              = [[Allegheny County, Pennsylvania|Allegheny]], Pennsylvania, United States
<!-- stats -->
| carries             = Sixth Street
| crosses             = Allegheny River
| owner               = 
| maint               = Allegheny County 
| id_type             = 
| id                  = 
| website             =  
| design              = [[Suspension bridge]]
| length              = {{convert|884|ft|m|abbr=on}}
| width               = 
| height              = {{convert|78|ft|m|abbr=on}}
| depth               = 
| number_spans        = 3
| piers_in_water      = 
| load                = 
| clearance_above     = 
| clearance_below     = 
| lanes               = 
| life                = 
| num_track           = 
| track_gauge         = 
| structure_gauge     = 
| electrification     = 
| architect           = 
| designer            = 
| builder             =  
| fabricator          = 
| begin               = 
| built               = 
| complete            = 
| cost                = 
| open                =
| inaugurated         = 
| rebuilt             = 
| destroyed           = 
| collapsed           = 
| closed              =
| replaces            = 
| replaced_by         = 
| traffic             = 
| toll                =
<!-- extra -->
|extra=
{{Infobox NRHP
 | name                 = 
 | embed                = yes
 | nrhp_type            = 
 | architect            = 
 | architecture         = 
 | added                = January 7, 1986
 | designated_nrhp_type = 
 | refnum               = 86000017
 | website              = 
 | mpsub                = 
 | designated_other1      = PHLF
 | designated_other1_date = 1988<ref>{{cite book | url= http://www.phlf.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/Historic-Plaques-2010b.pdf |title=Historic Landmark Plaques 1968-2009 |publisher=Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation | location=Pittsburgh, PA | year=2010 | access-date=2024-01-04}}</ref>
}}
}}

The '''Roberto Clemente Bridge''', also known as the '''Sixth Street Bridge''', spans the [[Allegheny River]] in downtown [[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]], United States.

==History==

===First bridge===
The original bridge at the site was a wooden [[covered bridge]] with six spans, probably using [[Burr truss]]es. It was built in 1819 by a contractor named Lothrop.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Wilkins|first=W.G.|title=The Reconstruction of the Sixth Street Bridge at Pittsburgh, Pa.|journal=Proceedings of the Engineers' Society of Western Pennsylvania|volume=11|year=1895|page=144|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uS_yAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA144|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180507140638/https://books.google.com/books?id=uS_yAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA144|archive-date=2018-05-07}}</ref>

===Second bridge===
[[File:Sixth Street Bridge 1859.jpg|thumb|Roebling's second version (1859) of the Sixth Street Bridge.]]

In 1859, the second Sixth Street Bridge was built by [[John A. Roebling]]. This was his third and final bridge in Pittsburgh. His eldest son [[Washington Roebling]] worked with him on the bridge after completing his degree in engineering.

This bridge had two main spans of {{Convert|343|ft|m}}, with shore spans of {{Convert|179|ft|m}}.<ref>{{cite journal|title = "On Repairing the Cables of the Allegheny Suspension Bridge at Pittsburgh, Pa., U.S.A."| last = Collingwood | first = Francis | year = 1884 | volume = 76 | pages = 334–345 | journal = Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers | issue = 1884 | doi = 10.1680/imotp.1884.21658 | accessdate = 2022-05-12 | url = https://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/doi/abs/10.1680/imotp.1884.21658 | url-access = subscription }}</ref> The floors were suspended from wire hangers, which were suspended from wire catenaries. This bridge was demolished in 1892, as it was too narrow and fragile to support modern transportation demands.

===Third bridge===
In 1892, the third Sixth Street Bridge was built by engineer [[Theodore Cooper]] for the Union Bridge Company. The main spans were {{Convert|440|ft|m}} long, each having through trusses of the camel-back type with upward-angled upper chords. The spans were twice as wide as the previous bridge.

In 1927 the bridge had to be taken apart because the steelwork was too brittle for safety. That year, the main spans were somewhat trimmed down temporarily from their {{Convert|80|ft|m|adj=on}} height. They were lowered onto barges and floated down the [[Ohio River]] to the back channel of [[Neville Island]], where they were used [[Coraopolis Bridge#Moving the Sixth Street Bridge to Coraopolis|as part of the Coraopolis Bridge]]. Finally, in 1994 the steel was scrapped.<ref>Kidney, Walter C. ''Pittsburgh's Bridges: Architecture and Engineering''. Pittsburgh, PA: Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, 1999.</ref>

===Current bridge===
The current bridge was completed on September 29, 1928. It is one of the [[Three Sisters (Pittsburgh)|Three Sisters]] bridges, which include the 7th and 9th Street bridges. The three bridges are nearly identical self-anchored, eye-bar suspension types. The horizontal pull of the top cords is resisted by the steel girders along each side of the roadway. The suspension system consists of 14" eye-bars extending from end to end, having two pins on the top of each tower and carrying the roadway by 4" eye-bar suspenders at the panel points. The stiffening system consists of triple web-plate girders parallel to the road grade. The girders are subjected to stresses due to bending combined with direct compression. <ref name="american"/>

All three bridges were fabricated and erected by American Bridge (AB). In an innovative approach, AB temporarily turned the eye-bar [[catenary arch|catenary]]/deck girder system into a truss by adding a diagonal to enable erection by a balanced cantilever. This avoided falsework in the river.<ref name="american">{{cite web |url=http://www.americanbridge.net/Experience/experience_detail.php?prj_ab_id=6th%20Pitt17082004160404717 |title=Main |access-date=2015-09-17 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603060313/http://www.americanbridge.net/Experience/experience_detail.php?prj_ab_id=6th%20Pitt17082004160404717 |archive-date=2016-06-03 }}</ref>

==Significance==
Named for the [[Pittsburgh Pirates]] [[baseball]] player [[Roberto Clemente]], it is one of three parallel bridges called [[Three Sisters (Pittsburgh)|The Three Sisters]]. The Three Sisters are [[self-anchored suspension bridge]]s and are significant because they are the only trio of nearly identical bridges—as well as the first self-anchored suspension spans—built in the [[United States]]. Over 720 bridges link the city districts.<ref>Pittsburgh. (2010). In The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather guide. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/heliconhe/pittsburgh</ref>

The Sixth Street Bridge's piers were built with arched openings beneath the river bed to accommodate future subway tunnels, following the recommendation of transportation planner [[Bion J. Arnold]].<ref>Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. PA-490, [http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.pa3845 "Three Sisters Bridges"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203142848/http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.PA3845/ |date=2017-02-03 }}, p. 36.</ref> The [[North Shore Connector]] tunnels completed in 2012 did not make use of this provision but were bored further west (downstream) and did not pass beneath the bridge.

The bridge was formally renamed on August 6, 1998 after Clemente, who played his entire career with the Pirates and was killed in [[1972 Puerto Rico DC-7 crash|a 1972 plane crash]].<ref>Barnes, Tom. [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/139620529/ "Now it's Clemente's bridge"], [[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]], August 6, 1998, front page and [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/139620529/ page A-8].</ref> This was part of a compromise after the Pirates sold the [[naming rights]] to PNC Park to locally based [[PNC Financial Services]]. Before the naming rights were sold, Pittsburgh's popular sentiment was to name the park itself after Clemente.<ref>{{cite web|last=Flinn|first=Stephen|url=http://www.pittsburghsportsreport.com/1998-Issues/psr9809/98090106.html|title=Pittsburgh Sports Report: Clemente Bridge: Too Much or Too Little? Ariba's Popularity Extends From Fans to Collectors|date=September 1998|website=www.pittsburghsportsreport.com|access-date=7 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160419025853/http://www.pittsburghsportsreport.com/1998-Issues/psr9809/98090106.html|archive-date=19 April 2016}}</ref>

It is closed to vehicular traffic on Pirates' and [[Pittsburgh Steelers|Steelers']] game days, providing a pedestrian route to [[PNC Park]] and [[Heinz Field]]. When PNC Park was built, a statue of Roberto Clemente, erected initially at [[Three Rivers Stadium]], was placed at the southeast corner of the park, right at the north anchorage of the Roberto Clemente Bridge.

The [[Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation]], in cooperation with the Riverlife Task Force, the City of Pittsburgh, and Duquesne Light Company, funded and managed the architectural lighting of the bridge. On November 20, 2002, the bridge was lit for the first time.

[[File:Sixth street bridge plaque.JPG|thumb|Plaque on the North Shore of the Sixth Street Bridge.]]

==See also==
*[[List of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in Pennsylvania]]
*[[List of crossings of the Allegheny River]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*Johanna A. Pro (1999). [http://www.post-gazette.com/regionstate/19990408clemente3.asp Clemente Bridge Dedication: ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218225817/http://old.post-gazette.com/regionstate/19990408clemente3.asp |date=2020-02-18 }}. Retrieved April 23, 2006.

==External links==
{{commons category multi|Roberto Clemente Bridge|1892 Sixth Street Bridge}}
*{{HAER | survey = PA-490-A | id = pa3659 | title = Three Sisters Bridges, Sixth Street Bridge, Spanning Allegheny River at Sixth Street, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, PA | photos = 15 | color = 1 | dwgs = 8 | data = | cap = 2}}
*{{Structurae|id=20004770|title=Roberto Clemente Bridge}}
*[http://www.bridgemeister.com/bridge.php?bid=158 entry] at BridgeMeister.com

{{Crossings navbox
|structure       = Crossings
|place           = [[Allegheny River]]
|bridge          = Roberto Clemente Bridge
|bridge signs    = 
|upstream        = [[Andy Warhol Bridge]]
|upstream signs  = 
|downstream      = [[North Shore Connector tunnel]]
|downstream signs = [[File:Pittsburgh_Light_Rail_(logo).svg|20px]] [[Pittsburgh Light Rail]]
}}
{{Pittsburgh Bridges}}
{{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania}}
{{NRHP bridges}}

[[Category:Bridges in Pittsburgh|Clemente]]
[[Category:Bridges completed in 1928]]
[[Category:Bridges over the Allegheny River]]
[[Category:Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmarks]]
[[Category:Suspension bridges in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Self-anchored suspension bridges]]
[[Category:Historic American Engineering Record in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Pittsburgh]]
[[Category:Steel bridges in the United States]]
[[Category:Roberto Clemente|Bridge]]