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Parkway East over Beulah Rd.

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Parkway East eastbound lanes over William Penn Hwy ramps;
1837 Beulah Presbyterian Church


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OFFICIAL NAME:
Penn Lincoln Parkway East - Interchange 13 - Churchill
[mileage-based interchange # 10A]

Churchill Interchange

SR8016

OTHER DESIGNATION:


LOCATION:
Churchill

USGS 7.5" Topo Quad - UTM Coordinates:
Braddock - Zone 17; 0596 4477
CARRIES:
-- Parkway East [I-376, US22] eastbound lanes over William Penn Hwy [SR2110]
-- Parkway East [I-376, US22] over Beulah Rd [SR130]

Interchange includes:
-- eastbound entrance to Parkway East [I-376, US22] from William Penn Hwy
-- eastbound entrance to Parkway East [I-376, US22] from Churchill Rd
-- eastbound exit from Parkway East [I-376, US22] to Churchill Rd
-- westbound exit from Parkway East [I-376, US22] to William Penn Hwy
-- westbound entrance to Parkway East [I-376, US22] from William Penn Hwy

BETWEEN:

CROSSES:
-- Parkway East eastbound lanes over William Penn Hwy [SR2110]
-- Parkway East over Beulah Rd [SR130]


TYPE OF CONSTRUCTION / DESIGN:
-- Parkway East eastbound lanes over William Penn Hwy: riveted plate girder skew simple span on concrete abutments

-- Parkway East over Beulah Rd: continuous steel girder (14 wide) stringers on concrete bents, 3 spans

LENGTH OF MAIN SPAN:
-- Parkway East eastbound lanes over William Penn Hwy: 133 ft

-- Parkway East over Beulah Rd: 60 ft, 2 side spans at 55 ft

TOTAL LENGTH (including longest elevated ramp):
-- Parkway East over Beulah Rd: 175 ft


HEIGHT OF DECK:
-- Parkway East eastbound lanes over William Penn Hwy: 13 ft 6 in posted



YEAR ERECTED / ENGINEER:
1948-1950, PA Dept of Highways
ADDITIONAL INFO:
This was originally the eastern terminus of the Parkway East. Here the Parkway met William Penn Highway, relocated and widened to the east in 1941. West of this point William Penn Highway continues into Wilkinsburg and then toward Pittsburgh as Penn Av.

There are two bridges in the interchange: one carries the Parkway mainline over Beulah Rd [PA130] in three spans. The other carries the eastbound Parkway lanes where the highway splits around the stub of the older William Penn Highway. The westbound left lane exit and eastbound left lane entrance show how the newer Parkway was wrapped around the older road. The eastbound lanes cross over William Penn Highway on a simple plate girder span featuring an acute skew to minimize its length.

When the Parkway East Extension was built in 1962 to bypass Monroeville, the Churchill interchange became an island of greenspace in the midst of traffic. The left lanes mark the end of the fifth and sixth lanes of the bypass. As originally constructed, the bypass was two lanes in each direction with a wide grass median; later, two lanes were filled inside. Between Pittsburgh and Churchill the Parkway is for the most part two lanes in each direction.

The construction dates from a 1953 PA Dept of Highways report indicates this interchange was completed in 1948 as one of the first sections of the new Parkway. Another source reports the date as 1950. The short bridge carrying the eastbound lanes over the William Penn Hwy ramps looks like it is from that pre-1950 time. But the multiple span structure carrying the Parkway over Beulah Rd looks more like the structures from the 1961 extension.

The name Churchill comes from the Beulah Presybterian Church which is located adjacent to the Parkway. The church traces its history to the 1758 British campaign of General John Forbes to take Pittsburgh from the French. Its first meeting house was erected in 1780. The 1837 church (recognized as an Historic Landmark) was built by William McCrea on land donated by him and with bricks baked on the site.

The Beulah church cemetary is the final resting place of 30 veterans of the Revolutionary War, as well as veterans from subsequent wars.

Lime Hill has been noted as the location of one of several places called "Bullock Pens." Local historians say the pens were an important source of livestock for the military forces in early Pittsburgh.

An 1806 act authorized a new turnpike to be constructed, with commisioners in the various counties along its route. Dividing the routes into section made fundraising by stock subscription easier. An 1811 act authorized the commonwealth to provide $300,000 to the company which could raise $150,000 in stock. A competition developed between the southern route (which included the Greensburg Pike) and what would become the Northern Turnpike. The rivalry delayed the construction of both, with the Northern Pike opening locally in 1819 -- after the southern route.

McCrea also figured in the course of the Northern Turnpike here as the route was being planned about 1806. Surveyors and engineers preferred to follow the water level route afforded by Chalfant Run to the north. But McCrea operated a lime kiln for the manufacture of agricultural lime. The works were near the top of Lime Hill, one of the highest hilltops in Allegheny County, and the present meeting point of the Greensburg Pike and the Northern Turnpike. He lobbied to have the course of Northern Pike ascend the hill into his property. Even now, motorists on the Parkway can see an outcropping of the limestone in a cut opposite the former Westinghouse R&D Center.

McCrady Rd, now cut in two sections, roughly marks the course of Northern Pike -- although the road was substantially modifed when the Parkway was built and later extended. A small section of the Pike runs behind the Churchill Municpal Building.

FIELD CHECKED:
02-Aug-2001

INFO SOURCES:
fieldcheck; PA Dept of Highways, "Penn Lincoln Parkway", 1953; Allegheny County Centennial Committee history, 1888; Collins, "Stringtown on the Pike"; Boucher, "Old and New Westmoreland", 1918


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Introduction -- Nearby Structures


Page created:
Last modified: 21-Aug-2001

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