Southbound Glenwood Bridge closed Saturday

Thursday, December 04, 2008
By Joe Grata, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The two southbound lanes of the Glenwood Bridge will be closed from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday while a contractor resets frozen rocker bearings, the same type of condition that, when left unchecked, caused a span of the Birmingham Bridge to fail early this year.

"Motorists have never been in any kind of danger," said Tom Hakim, an Allegheny County Public Works engineer. "The situation was discovered as part of a routine inspection and we're acting quickly so we don't have a problem." Rocker bearings sit on piers and carry the weight of the superstructure. They tilt to account for expansion, contraction and bridge movement under the weight of traffic. When "frozen," usually because of rust, debris and general deterioration, they can lead to bridge failures.

If the contractor is unable to finish the work Saturday, the southbound lanes could also be closed on Sunday. The northbound side of the bridge will remain open at all times.

A detour will be set up to reroute southbound traffic off Second Avenue at Hazelwood Avenue and then to the Homestead Grays Bridge.

Ownership of the Glenwood Bridge is split among Allegheny County, the City of Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, with PennDOT responsible for most of the structure over the Monongahela River.

PennDOT last did $1.2 million in repairs in 2004.