East Portal: (Satellite)
(Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; pghbridges; Satellite)
I wonder what route US-30 took before this bridge and tunnel were built.
Approximate tunnel distance via Google Maps: Total distance: 4,117.28 ft (1.25 km)
This bridge carries 100,000 vehicles a day, and it is scheduled to be closed for 25 days in Summer 2026.
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| Street View, Oct 2024 |
They called it the "Commercial Street Bridge." It turns out, it doesn't carry that street, it goes over that street. My clue as to the location was that they are going to do lane changes near Squirrel Hill Tunnel. This video was posted Feb 24, 2026, and all of the steel work is done. They now have to add the deck. It will then be moved over to replace the concrete bridge during the outage in the Summer, 2026.
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| 3:01 video @ 0:25 |
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| @ 0:51 |
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| @ 0:58 |
The bridge weights over 22 million pounds.
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| @ 1:00 |
ALL Erection and Crane Rental posted two photos with the comment:
When the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) first announced plans to replace Pittsburgh’s Commercial Street Bridge, it called the project a “very ambitious and complex endeavor.”ALL Crane Rental of Pennsylvania's two Manitowoc MLC300 crawler cranes were able to get the job done alongside the help of Amelie Construction.You can get all the details of the intricate project in the "Arch Support" case study: https://www.allcrane.com/resources/case-study/article/arch-support
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Squirrel Hill Tunnel
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| Jackson-Township historical preservation posted Photo from February 27, 1950 looking at the future site of the Squirrel Hill Tunnel in Pittsburgh. Looking East toward Swissvale and Edgewood, the Union Switch and Signal Building can be seen in the center background. The first contract for preparing the plans for the new Penn-Lincoln Parkway was given to Michael Baker, Jr. of Pittsburgh in November 1943. The estimated cost of the project at the time was $20 million. The figure was underestimated because the Squirrel Hill Tunnel itself cost $18 million to build, the most expensive project ever undertaken by the Pennsylvania Department of Highways at the time. The Squirrel Hill Tunnel was dedicated on June 5, 1953. (Photo from http://images.library.pitt.edu/) |
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| Jackson-Township historical preservation posted Construction of the Squirrel Hill Tunnels in Pittsburgh in 1949. (Photo from https://www.historicpittsburgh.org/) |
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| Jackson-Township historical preservation posted Traffic Jam on the Parkway East going into the Squirrel Hill Tunnels in Pittsburgh in 1954. (Photo from http://pgdigs.tumblr.com/) |
Commercial Street Bridge
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| Tom Batroney, Nov 2023 |
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| HistoricBridges The 863' (263m) long bridge has a main span of 176' (53.6m). |
As pghbridges points out, it is actually twin bridges.
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| 2021 photo by Brian Manville via BridgeHunter |
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| Jackson-Township historical preservation posted Commercial Street Bridge under construction on the Penn-Lincoln Parkway in Pittsburgh on August 16, 1948. The bridge has 3 arches with a length of 170 feet each and 12 approach spans at a length of 28 feet each. The total length of the bridge, including the longest elevated ramp, is 846 feet. The height of the deck has a clearance of 85 feet at the arch and a width of 68 feet. The bridge, a pair of twins each featuring two-ribbed arches, includes nearly 2.5 million pounds of steel reinforcing bars and 15,000 cubic yards of concrete. Material excavated during the construction of the Squirrel Hill Tunnel fills a part of Nine Mile Run Valley to a depth of 100 feet on a 1,000 foot long approach to the Commercial Street Bridge. Construction began in April 1948 and was completed in April 1951 at a cost of $1.78 million by Dinardo, Inc. of Pittsburgh. (Photo from http://images.library.pitt.edu/) |
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| HistoricPittsburgh The Commercial Street Bridge, spanning the Nine Mile Run Valley, along the Penn-Lincoln Parkway (Interstate 376) or known locally as the Parkway East. The bridge has 3 arches with a length of 170 feet each and 12 approach spans at a length of 28 feet each. The total length of the bridge, including the longest elevated ramp, is 846 feet. The height of the deck has a clearance of 85 feet at the arch and a width of 68 feet. Construction began in April 1948 and was completed in April 1951 at a cost of $1.78 million by Dinardo, Inc. of Pittsburgh. Material excavated during the construction of the Squirrel Hill Tunnel (left background) fills a part of Nine Mile Run valley to a depth of 100 feet on a 1,000-foot long approach to the Commercial Street Bridge. |
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