The Fort Duquesne Bridge is a steel
bowstring arch bridge that spans the
Allegheny River
The Allegheny River ( ; ; ) is a tributary of the Ohio River that is located in western Pennsylvania and New York (state), New York in the United States. It runs from its headwaters just below the middle of Pennsylvania's northern border, nor ...
in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
. It was colloquially referred to as "
The Bridge to Nowhere" prior to its completion.
History
The bridge was constructed from 1958-1963 by
PennDOT, and opened for traffic on October 17, 1969, with its predecessor
Manchester Bridge (located closer to the tip of
Point State Park) closing that same day (it was demolished in the autumn of 1970). The bridge was named "The Bridge to Nowhere" because the main span was finished in 1963, but due to delays in acquiring the right of way for the northern approach ramps, it did not connect on the north side of the Allegheny River. The total cost was budgeted at $5 million in 1962. The lack of approach ramps meant the bridge ended in midair, rendering it useless.
On December 12, 1964, Frederick Williams, a 21-year-old chemistry major at the
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...
from
Basking Ridge, New Jersey
Basking Ridge is an Local government in New Jersey#Unincorporated communities, unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within Bernards Township, New Jersey, Bernards Township in the Somerset Hills region of Somerset ...
, drove his 1959
Chrysler
FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn H ...
station wagon
A station wagon (American English, US, also wagon) or estate car (British English, UK, also estate) is an automotive Car body style, body-style variant of a Sedan (automobile), sedan with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo ...
through the bridge's wooden barricades, raced off the end of the bridge, and landed upside-down but unhurt on the other side, 190 feet away at the north bank of the Allegheny River.
His adventure is documented in
WQED-TV
WQED (channel 13) is a PBS member television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Owned by WQED Multimedia, it is sister to public radio station WQED-FM (89.3). The two outlets share studios on Fifth Avenue near the Carnegie M ...
's double
Mid-Atlantic region
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...
-winning
documentary
A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...
"Flying off the Bridge to Nowhere and Other Tales of Pittsburgh Bridges", narrated by
Rick Sebak.
Within a few weeks of this near tragedy, an iconic Pittsburgh radio personality,
Rege Cordic, distributed commemorative bumper stickers which read "Official Entry, Cordic & Company Bridge Leap Contest." With thousands of vehicles bearing these stickers on Pittsburgh's streets, the city responded by blocking off the end of the bridge with concrete barriers.
The northwestern ramps were completed in 1969, allowing access to
Pennsylvania Route 65, while the northeastern ramps were completed in 1986, with the construction of the northern section of
Interstate 279 (
North Shore Expressway) which runs through Downtown Pittsburgh's
Golden Triangle and north towards
Interstate 79. The bridge touches down halfway between
Heinz Field and
PNC Park Baseball Stadium on the City's North Shore.
See also
*
List of crossings of the Allegheny River
References
External links
Fort Duquesne Bridge at Pghbridges.com
{{Pittsburgh Bridges
Bridges to nowhere
Bridges in Pittsburgh
Bridges over the Allegheny River
Tied arch bridges in the United States
Road bridges in Pennsylvania
Interstate 79
U.S. Route 19
Bridges completed in 1969
1969 establishments in Pennsylvania
Bridges on the Interstate Highway System
Bridges of the United States Numbered Highway System
Steel bridges in the United States