The Liberty Bridge is a steel cantilever bridge and was created as the missing link between downtown Pittsburgh and the Liberty Tunnel, which had been built four years earlier in 1924 as a link to the South Hills. The bridge opened on March 27, 1928, following a 5-mile (8.0 km) vehicle parade[2] from the southern suburbs of the city, which crossed the Smithfield Street Bridge and proceeded through downtown before ending at the southern end of the new bridge.[3]
It was designed by George S. Richardson and cost $3,456,000 to build. It is 2663' 3/16" long, though the main span is 448' and the water clearance is 44.4'.[citation needed]
It was renovated in 1982 by the Dick Corporation, at a cost of $32 million.[citation needed]
On September 2, 2016, the Liberty Bridge was closed for 24 days, following a fire during construction work on the bridge.[4][5] Intense heat from burning plastic piping had caused a 30-foot (9 m) steel beam (compression chord) to buckle.[6] The bridge reopened to weight-limited traffic on September 26, and full traffic on September 30. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation assessed the value of the damages at over $3 million.[7]
^Gruen, J. Philip (August 1997). "Liberty Bridge"(PDF). Historic American Engineering Record. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress. p. 7. Archived from the original(PDF) on October 23, 2012. Retrieved January 28, 2014.
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