The Fort Duquesne Bridge

Once “The Bridge to Nowhere,” it is now The Bridge to Everywhere as it leads you right between PNC Park and the Football Stadium Formerly Known as Heinz Field. In other words, it is said to be The Bridge to All Things Important in This World.

The Football Stadium Formerly Known as Heinz Field opened in 2001; because of 9/11, the first scheduled NFL game there on September 16th was postponed to October 7th. The Steelers won that game and would go on to have a surprising rebound year–-after missing the playoffs the three prior seasons–-and host the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game.

Yours truly drove all the way down from Northern New England to see us lose that game. Whether or not I crossed the Fort Duquesne Bridge in route to that game I am unsure of. Whether or not that is the reason the Fort Duquesne Bridge did not make the original Mount Rushmore of Pittsburgh Bridges, I am also unsure of. Those are questions we get answered if we are fortunate enough to enter heaven, where neither Brady nor Belichick are allowed on any of Pittsburgh’s Bridges*.

PNC Park’s greatness has been detailed in many places, not least of all in the Roberto Clemente Bridge section of the Mount Rushmore of Pittsburgh Bridges, not to be confused with this Mount Rushmore, The Mount Rushmore of Pittsburgh Bridges That Did Not Make The Mount Rushmore of Pittsburgh Bridges. A large chunk of PNC Park’s greatness is the beautiful view of the greatest downtown God ever made (citation: The New York Times). Another part of PNC Park’s greatness is that my beloved dear Grammy and Grandpa got me a brick there when it was constructed.

In other words: these great stadiums, these magnificent fields of play that host high**-level competition, can be said to be Pittsburgh’s new forts, replacing Fort Duquesne, Pittsburgh’s old name after the fort itself on the other side of the Allegheny from these 21st century theatres.

But perhaps we buried the lead–-or you could say we saved the best for last: while many bridges have been dubbed “the bridge to nowhere” over the years by squabbling politicians, this Bridge actually was The Bridge to Nowhere for almost the entire decade of the 60s. With construction starting in 1958 and essentially finished soon thereafter, it did not open until late 1969 because the approach ramps on the North Side could not be finished for a variety of reasons.

This created a different kind of anticipation than outlined in the Fort Pitt Bridge face of the Mount Rushmore of Pittsburgh Bridges or the Carly Simon song about it. A Pitt chemistry major just could not handle the anticipation of this Great Bridge’s Grand Opening to the public or wait for the final pieces of the Bridge to be built, so one day he decided to take fate into his own hands as he drove through the barriers blocking entry, went all the way across the Bridge, and flipped his car onto the North Side.

Most importantly (to those who might otherwise find us careless or indifferent), he did not get hurt.

So even when Great Bridges aren’t finished, they still work. Truly the mark of a Great Bridge. #GoodEvenAtOurWorst

This extracurricular chemistry experiment with Great Bridges inspired famed Pittsburgh Radio Host Rege Cordic to create commemorative bumper stickers as part of a leap contest where people were to put the stickers in the strangest of places.

This contest was such a success, as one of our future community service projects, we would like to build a bridge to past and rekindle it. #StayTuned

This incident also inspired an award-winning great bridge documentary, a piece of Bridge Literature so great that it made it on The Mount Rushmore of Pittsburgh Bridge Literature. #OneGreatBridgeIsAlwaysABridgeToAnother #TheBridgeToNowhereBecameTheBridgeToManyThingsGreat

But mystery surrounds this great leap of Pitt Student Frederick Williams back in 1964. He never wanted to talk about the incident, never wanted to explain his motivation. So for over half of a century it remained a great mystery.

Until now.

It becomes clear that he wanted to immortalize his name here, in the Mount Rushmore of Pittsburgh Bridges That Did Not Make The Mount Rushmore of Pittsburgh Bridges.

It was a risky move.

But it worked. #ValeLaPena

But that does not settle all discussion regarding this Great Bridge; we realize that. Where one door closes, another door opens. Where one bridge retires, another one is born. Where one bridged mystery has been solved another bridge question is raised.

How did this Great Bridge, the Fort Duquesne Bridge, not make the Mount Rushmore of Pittsburgh Bridges?

How this Bridge did not make the Mount Rushmore of Pittsburgh Bridges will undoubtedly be a point of much debate and even cause some anger resulting in upping blood pressure medication dosages of the Great Bridge Connoisseurs of Old. We apologize for that.

But it is not our fault.

Nor is it the fault or indictment of this Great Bridge.

It is simply because Pittsburgh is the City of Bridges which creates a difficult dynamic when trying to cram such abundance of greatness into a Mount Rushmore that only allows four. Had the original Mount Rushmore in South Dakota been created with more future-minded Pittsburgh Bridges rather than dead American Presidents, they surely would have had to carve more than four bridges on the side, thus altering history as everyone making their own Mount Rushmore of anything would have to put more than four things on it, depending upon how many Pittsburgh Bridges were carved on the side of a mountain in South Dakota, making contemporary society more inclusive.

But we cannot change history. We can only be forward-thinking like Pittsburgh Bridges and do the best we can moving forward to move forward. In this case, it means creating a rare second Mount Rushmore in the same category, a great Mount Rushmore: The Mount Rushmore of Pittsburgh Bridges That Did Not Make the Mount Rushmore of Pittsburgh Bridges.

What we can also say is this, if someone constructs The Mount Rushmore of Bridges for Fishing, this Great Bridge we call the Fort Duquesne Bridge needs to be one, for it was once dubbed The Most Expensive Fishing Pier in America.

What we can additionally say is this: what once was called The Bridge to Nowhere could be said to be a bridge to the sweetest of internets, which many people would (if they visited this site) call the internet to nowhere.

*In the likely event that Pittsburgh’s Bridges exist in both heaven and earth, which they do.

**When concerning the Pirates, the heights normally needed to reach “high” in “high-level” competition have been reduced to fit the needs of the author.