OTHER DESIGNATION:
Ohio River Boulevard over Forest Av

LOCATION:
Ben Avon

USGS 7.5" Topo Quad - UTM Coordinates:
Emsworth - Zone 17; 0577 4484

BETWEEN:
-- Western Av
-- Brighton Av

CROSSES:
-- Forest Av

LENGTH OF MAIN SPAN:
63 ft

TOTAL LENGTH (including longest elevated ramp):
63 ft

HEIGHT OF DECK:

YEAR ERECTED / ENGINEER:
1930, Allegheny County

ALLEGHENY COUNTY FOREST AVENUE BRIDGE ERECTED 1930 COMMISSIONERS JOS. G. ARMSTRONG, CHAIRMAN   E. V. BABCOCK    CHAS. C. McGOVERN DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR NORMAN F. BROWN   CHIEF ENGINEER V. R. COVELL CONTRACTOR BOOTH & FLINN COMPANY

from the PennDOT Historic Bridges Survey:

"The bridge carries 4 lanes of Ohio River Boulevard (SR 65) and 2 sidewalks over Forest Avenue in Ben Avon in a residential area with 1910s and 1920s houses. The bridge was built as part of the Ohio River Boulevard, the highway designed to speed traffic to the McKees Rocks bridge. The highway has lost integrity due to alterations to its original geometry and roadside features as well as extensive modern development along it. Neither the highway nor the setting have historic district potential.

The 1930, skewed, single span, 63'-long, reinforced concrete rigid frame bridge had Art Moderne influenced steel railings like those used all along Ohio River Boulevard. While Ohio Boulevard has lost many of its aspects of integrity and is not a historic corridor, this bridge ranks as one of the earliest rigid frame bridges in the state, and as such is individually significant. Allegheny County was a national leader in the use of new bridge building technologies, and that it should be the location of the earliest rigid frame bridges built in the state speaks to the ability of the county's department of public works. The bridge is historically and technologically significant."

Introduction -- Nearby Structures