Panhandle Bridge

Panhandle Bridge
Coordinates
Carries	2 tracks of the PAT "T Line"
Crosses	Monongahela River
Locale	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Official name	Monongahela River Bridge
Characteristics
Design	Truss bridge
History
Opened	1903

The Panhandle Bridge (officially the Monongahela River Bridge) carries two rail lines of the Port Authority "T" line across the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The name comes from Pennsylvania Railroad subsidiary Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad, also known as the Panhandle Route, which operated over the bridge.

The basic structure was built in 1903, and was the third railroad bridge on the site since 1863. It was raised in 1912-14 as part of a grade separation project. The bridge's function was to carry Panhandle Route passenger, mail and express trains from Pennsylvania Station in Pittsburgh, with a tunnel in between the station and the bridge. Pennsy Panhandle freight trains utilized the Ohio Connecting Bridge slightly downstream on the Ohio River, or went the long way around the West Virginia Panhandle via Conway, Pennsylvania.

Rail traffic over the Panhandle Bridge declined as passenger trains were discontinued, and Amtrak became the only regular user of the bridge from 1971 to 1979, when the New York-St. Louis-Kansas City National Limited was discontinued on October 1 of that year. As PRR successor Conrail had no use for the bridge and the restrictive downtown tunnel, it was sold to the Port Authority, who rebuilt the bridge beginning in 1982 as part of the downtown light rail subway project, which removed trolleys from downtown streets and the Smithfield Street Bridge. PAT (as the Port Authority system was known at the time) light rail cars began using the bridge on July 7, 1985.

See also

• List of crossings of the Monongahela River
• Pittsburgh & Steubenville Extension Railroad Tunnel
• Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad

A one-car T Light Rail train crosses the bridge.

Bridge supports from the river.

Light rail crossing the bridge.

External links

• Panhandle Bridge on pghbridges.com
• Panhandle (1903) at Structurae

Bridges of the Monongahela River Upstream Liberty Bridge SR 3069 Panhandle Bridge Downstream Smithfield Street Bridge SR 3027

Tunnels and bridges in Pittsburgh Tunnels Allegheny River Tunnel Armstrong Tunnel Cork Run Tunnel Corliss Tunnel Fort Pitt Tunnel J&L Tunnel Liberty Tunnel Mount Washington Transit Tunnel Pittsburgh and Castle Shannon Tunnel Pittsburgh & Steubenville Extension Railroad Tunnel Schenley Tunnel Squirrel Hill Tunnel Wabash Tunnel Bridges 16th Street Bridge 30th Street Bridge 31st Street Bridge 33rd Street Railroad Bridge 40th Street Bridge Bloomfield Bridge Birmingham Bridge Fort Duquesne Bridge Fort Pitt Bridge Fort Wayne Railroad Bridge Glenwood Bridge Glenwood B&O Railroad Bridge Highland Park Bridge Homestead Grays Bridge Hot Metal Bridge Liberty Bridge McKees Rocks Bridge Panhandle Bridge Panther Hollow Bridge Schenley Bridge Senator Robert D. Fleming Bridge Smithfield Street Bridge South Tenth Street Bridge Three Sisters Roberto Clemente Bridge Andy Warhol Bridge Rachel Carson Bridge Veterans Bridge West End Bridge