Posts Tagged ‘Birmingham Bridge’
Wound up
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Crossing the Monongahela River, one headed back in the direction of the T Light Rail which had provided a humble narrator with transport from the suburban HQ in Dormont over to the titular center of Pittsburgh.
I was on the Hot Metal Bridge during this particular interval.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Said span is pictured above, and the one in the distance in the first shot is called the Birmingham Bridge. For more, click here.
Rather than sticking to the waterfront as is my habit, this time around I decided to walk down one of the ‘main drags’ in the neighborhood immediately found nearby. This commercial ‘high street’ is called East Carson St., and there’s an abundance of eating and drinking establishments found along it. Apparently this area is irresistible to the younger cohort of Pittsburgh, the sort which enjoys a tipple on a Saturday night, and the corridor often makes the news with tales of mischief and drunken mayhem. For you New Yorkers – think Avenue A between St. Mark’s and Houston.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I grabbed an actually exceptional slice of Pizza on East Carson Street, which I happened across on my way back to the T. I quaffed the thing, and then continued on back to the station.
Back next week with more from Pittsburgh.
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There and back again
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the Birmingham Bridge which a tugboat is navigating up the Monongahela River under, here in Pittsburgh. Where the bridge comes back to land on the southern shore, seen on the right hand side of the shot, is where my car was parked. Due to construction, my original plan to walk across Birmingham Bridge was thwarted, and also due to that project a humble narrator was forced to just keep on going in a generally westwards direction until a river crossing manifested itself. This is from the northern shoreline of the waterbody, and I needed to get to the south side and then back to my waiting automobile.
That’s the quandary. I solved it by doing what I do, which to just keep on walking. Scuttling, actually, but let’s call it walking. Luckily, an apparently quite energetic young woman jogged past me, hopping a couple of feet into the air with every stride, and since she seemed to know where she was going I kept an eye on her path.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The path which that fitness enthusiast blazed led me directly to the South Tenth Street Bridge, which I’ve actually mentioned before. The bridge connects several levels of the north side area together, including leading up to Duquesne University via a very steep staircase set against a bluff. There’s also a vehicle only tunnel punched through the base of the bluff which leads out to local streets. On the river facing side, you can navigate down to the waterfront and it’s trails, as well as to ‘for pay’ parking lots surrounding several governmental buildings. On the other side of the river, the bridge enters the South Side Flats neighborhood. That’s where I needed to go, to find my way back to the car.
Luckily, protected pedestrian and bike paths on bridges are pretty common hereabouts. One hung a left, and away a humble narrator went.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was a pretty pleasant walking experience, actually. Separated from vehicular flow by steel girders, but few chain link sections of fencing. One of my most sincere complaints about NYC DOT’s Bridge operations revolves around the prison yard fencing that they throw up everywhere they can. One of my proudest moments along Newtown Creek was convincing the NYS DOT not to chain link the new Kosciuszcko Bridge and instead install a model of fence which didn’t occlude the views. I talked them into creating a fence not dissimilar to the one surrounding Calvary Cemetery, arguing about visual continuity with the designers. It’s just a coincidence that the width between the bars of that fence happen to be 1/2” bigger than the barrel of my favorite lens. Coincidence, I say.
It’s only about 1,200 feet across, the South Tenth Street bridge, so it’s a fairly quick walk.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I heard it right about here, I’ll cryptically mention.
The ‘quality rolls’ place in the background was some kind of metals mill, not too sure about what they roll or the quality thereof. As has been the case every time I’ve left the house for the last month, I’m not pretending to myself that I’m going to “photograph” anything (I’ve taken a lot of ‘crime of opportunity’ photowalk “shots”) and that my order of the day continues to be scouting in pursuance of future photo outings which will be more in depth.
Is it a Morning thing? Summer or Fall thing? What time of year do these sticks and twigs flower? All that.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned, I heard it back on the bridge. Luckily for me, the crew was stuck at a signal and I had all the time in the world to get into position before they blew the horn and started moving.
I have been extremely unlucky as far as timing goes when it comes to freight rail. That construction detour back on the Eliza Furnace Trail on the north side of the Monongahela River actually set me up. Serendipity, I tell’s ya, serendipity.
That’s a CSX train set, on the Pittsburgh Subdivision. There were tanker cars in the line, but who the hell knows what was in them or maybe they are empty inside. A couple of weeks ago, I saw a photo of a CSX unit towing Army Tanks and military looking container boxcars along these tracks. Was there ammo on board? Who knows? There’s supposed to be a ‘no hazardous material’ rule within the city’s limit, I’m told, but is that enforced? By who? Is there a formal compliance agreement between the carrier and the State or the Feds? Have dirty rotten cheaters gamed the system?
Who knows?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That derailed Norfolk Southern business in Ohio is about 50 miles away from HQ. I’ve been watching the social media ripples of the event splashing about, and all I can say is that maybe when the Union wanted to go out on strike last month we should have listened to them and the members if Congress shouldn’t have engaged in a rare bipartisan alliance to crush their right to strike. Joe Biden joined a long list of American Presidents who have orchestrated against Labor when the industry involved is Rail – and that includes FDR, Truman, Nixon, Reagan etc. This sort of thing goes beyond party, btw, and has nothing to do with that. It’s national security, supply chain, mega capitalism.
Vital industries depend on rail, and the last thing you’d want to do is increase the amount of volatile material that travels around the USA in trucks. The fact that the sort of disaster which the people in Ohio, just an hour’s drive west of here, are living through is rare and comment worthy is a testament to how good American rail workers are at their jobs, and how robust the American Rail system actually is. The problem right now is success, as in the success of the company in the eyes of Wall Street.
Not enough butter is getting spread over too much bread in the name of growing the profit margin, in order to make Norfolk Southern and CSX look good to the Wall Street hedge fund managers. That’s why corners get cut, maintenance deferred, and the trains and yards are undermanned.
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Eliza Furnace Trail
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After having crossed the Monongahela River here in Pittsburgh, via the Hot Metal Bridge, one then proceeded onto the Eliza Furnace Trail heading in a generally westerly direction towards Downtown Pittsburgh. In yesterday’s post, I walked on the two other trails found on the south side of the river, and then on one set on the Hot Metal Bridge itself. It’s all very confusing, really, but you get where you want to eventually.
Eliza Furnace Trail is cut through a weird liminal space formed by bridges, highways, industrial activity, and is set against very high ridges and cliffs… wow.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a maintenance project underway in this spot, involving one of the minor Bridge/Onramp structures weaving about on the north side of Pittsburgh. Workers were up on scissor lifts with concrete and metal working equipment. Scaffolding was in place, as were steel structures acting as drop cloths under the job site.
Pittsburgh is in a constant state of emergency repair, due to the challenging geology and a lack of systemic maintenance during its downward financial spiral at the end of the 20th century. Sinkholes are known to form here, and a few years ago – one opened up downtown and swallowed a city bus. It’s become an unofficial seal for the city, and people sell t-shirts and xmas ornaments of the scene.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Eliza Furnace Trail wanders fairly far afield of the Monongahela River’s waterfront. My original plan for this scouting mission was to cross the river at the Birmingham Bridge and circle back to where I’d parked the Mobile Oppression Platform. Problem was that the construction project had obliterated the connection to the bridge and the surrounding streets, so I ended up having to scuttle about a mile further west than intended to get back to the south side. I need the exercise, anyway, so no big whup.
The traffic, the noise of construction, clouds of concrete dust and auto exhaust hanging in the air… it’s like I was back in NYC for a minute.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A bunch of people whom I’m in telephone contact with have asked “do you miss it?” The answer is “I don’t.” I still feel like I’m on vacation somewhere, but… we now live in a house, on a quiet and somewhat suburban street. The vibe here in Pittsburgh is awesome.
What I do miss is the ability to stagger out the door and walk over to Sunnyside Yards for a few quick train shots, or over to Dutch Kills in LIC for yet another series of loving shots of that unloved industrial canal. I don’t miss the noise, danger, and constant bullshit right under my bedroom window. I have never, ever, had the quality of sleeping that I’m currently experiencing. It’s quiet and dark here at night.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’m also quite enjoying the discovery of novel and new here. Back in NYC, I was a dirty rotten “know it all.” Want to know who built the NYC Ferry and where? Which one of Kathy Hochul’s sponsors will profit from her interborough rail plan? Who will get to build those 15 foot sea walls they’re proposing for Brooklyn and Queens, and what it cost them to be the first in line when Congress starts writing checks?
It’s lovely not knowing everything. Saying that, I can already tell you that the green/blue steel is owned by the State of Pennsylvania and that the yellow part is owned by the city of Pittsburgh. At least that’s what I think the different colors mean.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My walk continued, after having passed under the Birmingham Bridge and the nest of on and off ramps which feed into it. The Eliza Furnace Trail transmogrifies into the Three Rivers Heritage trail and overlays the Great Allegheny Passage trail somewhere around where the above photo was captured. This path ultimately leads the Point State Park on the golden triangle section of Pittsburgh, where the Fort Pitt Bridge can be found.
Point State Park is the de facto center of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, which encompasses multiple counties and satellite cities, towns, and boroughs in four states – Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland. Culturally and financially distinct from the nearby East Coast, Great Lakes, and Toronto megalopolis, one continues to try to wrap his head around this amazing part of the United States which I now call home.
More tomorrow, from the Paris of Appalachia, at your Newtown Pentacle.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
Hot Metal, 3 Rivers Heritage Trail
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The path which the Monongahela River enjoys is somewhat serpentine in nature, prior to the waterway’s juncture with the Allegheny River, where they mutually become the Ohio River nearby Downtown Pittsburgh. Last week, I drove the Mobile Oppression Platform (the Toyota) over to a neighborhood called the Southside Flats and parked in a lot associated with a park and the Three Rivers Heritage Trail. The MOP was left directly beneath the Birmingham Bridge, pictured above.
It’s a young bridge for this section of the world, having been opened for business in 1977. It’s another bowstring arch bridge, not unlike the Fort Penn bridge discussed last week. The fact that it’s not painted yellow indicates that it’s a state – rather than a city – bridge. My plan for the afternoon was pretty simple – I’d walk eastwards along the trail, cross the river and then walk westwards, whereupon I’d circle back to the MOP. It was overcast in Pittsburgh, with roiling clouds bolting around up in the vault, and the temperatures were comfortable and in the mid 50’s.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This is another one of the sections of Pittsburgh where there used to be a steel mill, I’m told. The trail itself follows active freight rail tracks on the south side of the river. In tomorrow’s post, the north side of the scene will be explored, but for the first half of my walk it was all about the south side and getting to where my crossing would be found.
There’s gigantic infrastructural elements available for inspection and appreciation along the way – storm sewers, enormous concrete and iron retaining walls that keep the slopes of sedimentary soil deposits from sliding into the river. One section had steel plates holding up a wall of soils, with the steel plates bolted into place with giant lug nuts that were the size of dinner plates.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the 1887 vintage Hot Metal Bridge. During the Second World War, 15% of American steel production would travel over it on the rails. In 2000 AD, it was converted over to vehicle and pedestrian/bike usage. Its “official” name is the “Monongahela Connecting Railroad Bridge and Hot Metal Bridge.” On the path approaching it, there’s historic signage which describes the steel industry and the railroads which served it.
There’s post industrial development everywhere you look in this zone, and a few large corporate anchors are located nearby, including the clothing company American Eagle Outfitters.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the Hot Metal Bridge’s pedestrian path, which is completely separated from the vehicular lanes, and heading north – that’s where this shot was gathered. I didn’t have any particular goal for the afternoon other than kicking my feet about and getting some exercise, but I was able to piece together a mental map of where I was scuttling based around prior explorations – which I’ve described here – of the Monongahela Valley. Locally, it’s referred to as the Mon Valley by the politicians, but when they say that it’s usually in reference to the still quite industrial areas to the east like Clairton and Braddock.
There were just a few other people on the bridge. A bike rider or three, joggers, one or two other pedestrians. No dogs.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This one looks back towards the south side of the river across the Hot Metal Bridge. My original plan was to circle back to the south side and the MOP using the Birmingham Bridge… but more on that tomorrow.
The north side has quite a different circumstance than the south does, with high speed roads like I-579 riding on elevated structures and an industrial and commercial zone. When you get to the north side, the Three Rivers Heritage trail is renamed as the Eliza trail to commemorate the J&L Steel mill which was located here. This bridge is also part of the Great Allegheny Passage trail.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the north side, I turned westwards. The neighborhoods around this intersectional area are Oakland and the Hill District. The terrain here is difficult due to its verticality, and I can tell you that it’s a real challenge to climb these hills on foot. Luckily, the path I was walking on was graded for rail, meaning one foot of elevation for every hundred feet horizontally.
Tomorrow, I find myself walking through the sort of place which most would logically go looking for my corpse, if I’d gone missing.
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