| Home > All By Location regional map > Glenshaw > Burchfield Rd over Pine Creek | |||
|
|
Southern arch wall (downstream right) More detail photos OFFICIAL NAME: Allegheny County Bridge No. 20 Pine Creek OTHER DESIGNATION: Burchfield Rd over Pine Creek glen587-20 LOCATION: Shaler Twp USGS 7.5" Topo Quad - UTM Coordinates: Glenshaw - Zone 17; 0587 4488 CARRIES: Burchfield Rd [formerly Butler Plank Rd] BETWEEN: -- Old Butler Plank Rd (old alignment) -- William Flinn Hwy [PA8] CROSSES: -- Pine Creek TYPE OF CONSTRUCTION / DESIGN: concrete arch with stone facing locally-quarried sandstone outer spandrel wall: rock-faced coursed ashlar upper walls and parapets: dressed coursed ashlar arch ring: dressed stepped voussoirs in segmental arch brick street surface LENGTH OF MAIN SPAN: 65 ft 37 degree skew TOTAL LENGTH (including longest elevated ramp): 116 ft 25 ft wide, between parapets at center HEIGHT OF DECK: YEAR ERECTED / ENGINEER: 1915, Allegheny County James G. Chalfant, County Engineer ADDITIONAL INFO: Ground was broken in June 1851 by the Allegheny City and Butler Plank Road Company to build one of the earliest improved roads north of Pittsburgh. With the arrival of the motor age, these older "improved" roads were rebuilt. This bridge was constructed in 1915 as part of the Butler Plank Rd. The Pittsburgh-Butler Highway was straightened and widened again in 1931-32 at which time, this bridge was bypassed in the same way a meandering river isolates an oxbow lake. This short section of the Old Butler Plank Road was claimed as part of Burchfield Rd. The old alignment of the Butler Plank Rd continues south from the bridge and ends at Pine Creek. Upon the death of a prominent contractor and politician, the new road was named William Flinn Highway. Numerous small stone arch bridges were built under the tenure of Charles Davis as County Engineer. Upon the death of Davis in 1907, James Graham Chalfant was elected to the position of County Engineer. Two of the projects undertaken by Chalfant were the reconstruction and widening of stone arch bridges of Davis: Beaver Rd over Big and Little Sewickley Creeks, 1919 and 1918 respectively. In those projects, the stonework design which may be seen as Davis' signature was retained, but the reconstruction of the bridges were done as concrete arch. When the time came to build new bridges over streams elsewhere within the county, Chalfant evolved from the Roman simplicity of Davis. The two bridges carrying Old Butler Plank Road over Pine Creek in Shaler Township mark the introduction of stepped voussoirs along the arch ring. Other details in the stonework continued to echo the Davis design: rock-faced, coursed ashlar and rounded parapets. But the major change evident in the new structures is the use of the filled concrete arch -- the stonework is mainly a decorative covering. While nearly two dozen of the small stone spans by Davis still exist, perhaps half that number remain of the Chalfant design. Chalfant's skew span at Burchfield Rd seems to be the oldest and longest. Another 1915 bridge of similar design may be found where a section of Old Butler Plank Rd crosses Pine Creek in Glenshaw. A metal plaque is embedded at the center of the upstream parapet:
FIELD CHECKED: 21-Oct-2002 INFO SOURCES: field check Submit info or inquiry - share some facts or ask a question. Introduction -- Nearby Structures Page created: Last modified: 10-Jan-2003 |
View Larger Map 
| |
| copyright: © Bruce S. Cridlebaugh 1999-2008 All Rights Reserved | |||