{"nrhp_refnum":"86000016","name":"Homestead High-Level Bridge","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Monongahela River at West St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Pittsburgh","county":"Allegheny County","state":"PA","lat":40.411108038000066,"lon":-79.91902615599997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-01-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Engineering","Transportation","Politics/Government"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A steel Wichert continuous truss bridge carrying traffic across the Monongahela River between Homestead Borough and the southern part of Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood, in Allegheny County. It was built between 1934 and 1937.","why_significant":"The bridge is described as the first major application of the Wichert continuous truss, a patented design by Pittsburgh engineer E. M. Wichert. It was built by the Allegheny County Authority with federal Public Works Administration funds and is presented as a rare example of an innovative engineering technique within the county's bridge-building program of the 1920s and 1930s.","narrative":"Built between 1934 and 1937 across the Monongahela River, the Homestead High-Level Bridge links Homestead Borough with the southern part of Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood. Its primary structure is four Wichert continuous steel trusses, with two center spans of 533.3 feet and two end spans of 291 feet each. The bridge was built by the Allegheny County Authority as part of Public Works Administration project No. 2976. Design engineer George S. Richardson worked with the J. E. Greiner Company of Baltimore as consulting engineers. The bridge was designed around the Wichert truss, which allowed each span to act independently while distributing load along the full length of the structure. It was the first major span of this truss type built, and its traffic deck originally carried trolleys alongside vehicles. The bridge replaced the 1895 Brown's Bridge, which had been 1,300 feet long but only 19 feet wide. It is regarded as a rare and prominent example of an innovative engineering technique.","period_of_significance":"1921-1940","architect_builder":"George S. Richardson (design engineer); J. E. Greiner Company, Baltimore (consulting engineers)","architectural_style":"Truss (continuous)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":null,"vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:33.361103-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/86000016.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86000016/f3e059c83c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86000016/f3e059c83c-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"PixOnTrax at English Wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Homestead_Grays_Bridge_river_reflection.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">PixOnTrax at English Wikipedia</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Homestead_Grays_Bridge_river_reflection.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71992236","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homestead_Grays_Bridge","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5890508"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/allegheny-county/homestead-high-level-bridge-86000016/"}