Rachel Carson Bridge

The Rachel Carson Bridge, also known as the Ninth Street Bridge, spans the Allegheny River in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the United States.

Named for the naturalist and author Rachel Carson, a Pittsburgh native, it is one of three parallel bridges called the Three Sisters, the others being the Roberto Clemente Bridge and the Andy Warhol Bridge. The Three Sisters are self-anchored suspension bridges and are significant because they are the only trio of nearly identical bridges—as well as the first self-anchored suspension spans—built in the United States.

The total length of the Rachel Carson Bridge is 840 ft including the 410 ft main span and two 215 ft side spans, or 995 ft including the approaches. The total width of the deck is 62 ft, including the 38 ft roadway plus two 10 ft sidewalks outside the compressive plate girder. Whereas the roadway formerly carried two vehicle lanes and two streetcar tracks, it was changed to carry four wide vehicle lanes. The 2019-2020 refurbishment reduced the lanes to three.

History
The Rachel Carson Bridge was dedicated and opened during a noontime ceremony with Commissioner Babcock, Mayor Kline, and city council members including Herron and McArdle in attendance. The cost of construction was $1.46 million or $ in 2024 terms.

The bridge was renamed on Earth Day, April 22, 2006, after years of lobbying by Esther Barazzone, president of Chatham University, the alma mater of the renowned environmentalist. Carson was born in 1907 in Springdale, Pennsylvania, in a farmhouse 18 mi up the Allegheny River, now the Rachel Carson Homestead.

On February 11, 2019, the bridge was closed to vehicles and pedestrians for a comprehensive rehabilitation project. The bridge was expected to remain closed until at least June 2020. Traffic was detoured over either the Andy Warhol Bridge or the Roberto Clemente Bridge, both of which run parallel and are less than 1/2 mile away from the Rachel Carson Bridge.

The bridge reopened in November 2020 after the completion of a $23.3 million rehabilitation project. It was reconfigured from four lanes to three with the direction of the middle lane depending on time of day.