Allegheny River Bridge (ARB) Demo Facts:

 The original Allegheny River Bridge was built in 1950, when the Turnpike was just 10 years old. Pennsylvania
 The new Allegheny River Bridge is to be completed later this year, just after the Turnpike
celebrates its 70th Anniversary.
Turnpike Commission
 The Allegheny River Bridge project is part of the $566 million mainline improvements the PTC is
making between the Ohio line and New Stanton.

 It will take 200 lbs. of explosives, set at 150 precut points, to bring down the remaining steel
portions of the original ARB. The demolition will take place in two separate blasts, one today
and one at a later date.

 The explosives - approximately 300 individual charges - are linear-shaped charges made out of
metal. The charges will be placed in strategic locations of the truss to cut the truss into
manageable sections for removal.

 The truss over the river will drop approx 50 feet. Approximately 680 feet of the steel will fall on
land and about 533 feet will fall into the river.

 It will take 48 hours to clear the river. Steel from the river navigational channel will be removed
to create a channel for river traffic in 24 hours. The steel on the island and causeway in the
back channel will be cleared in about two weeks after the blast.

 There will be approximately 2,000 tons of steel that will be removed.

 Crews have worked three weeks to pre-burn and prepare the truss in the locations of the
charges. It took about three days to load the charges in preparation for the shot.

 About 15 to 20 workers were involved in the different phases of demolition.

 The J.B. Fay Co. is the demolition contractor and CDI is the explosive contractor.

 The cost of the demolition is about $3.2 million including the deck, girders, truss and piers. This
includes salvage value for the steel that is recycled.

Ground tremors are unlikely during the blast. There will be some air shockwave which will

Allegheny River

cause vibrations. Implosion is up in the air so the ground does not receive vibrations.
Monitoring equipment will be placed at various locations around the jobsite to collect data from
the implosion.

Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission

Allen Biehler
Bridge Demolition
Chairman & Secretary of Transportation

J. William Lincoln
Secretary-Treasurer

Pasquale T. Deon, Sr.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Commissioner

A. Michael Pratt
Commissioner
10:00 a.m.
William K. Lieberman
Commissioner

Joseph G. Brimmeier
Chief Executive Officer

George M. Hatalowich
Chief Operating Officer
Allegheny River Bridge (ARB) Replacement Project

Replacement of the Pennsylvania Turnpike’s Allegheny River crossing, 14 miles northeast of

Pittsburgh between Harmar Township and Plum Borough, Allegheny County, is the primary component of a
total reconstruction and widening of the Interstate 76 mainline between mileposts 46.56 and 49.54.
Essentially, the parameters of the project are the PA Route 28 overpass to the west and the newly revamped
Oakmont-Plum Service Plaza to the east.

There is little wiggle room through this corridor. What was already a tight squeeze when the
Turnpike’s 67-mile expansion from Irwin to Ohio opened on Dec. 26, 1951 is even more so today. The
Turnpike bisects the internationally heralded Oakmont Country Club immediately to the east of the bridge. Original ARB Structure
Running parallel and to the immediate north is the 2,300-feet-long Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad trestle.
Looming nearby is the Henderson Cemetery, which has headstones dating from the Revolutionary War era,
and the University of Pittsburgh’s Applied Research Center (UPARC). In addition, there is the Turnpike’s
Allegheny Valley Interchange with acceleration and deceleration lanes on the west side of the river.

After considering several options and reluctantly shelving a preferred widening of the Turnpike
median from 10 to 26 feet, Turnpike engineers concluded that a revised alignment placing six lanes of traffic
south of the existing bridge would best address needs while minimizing impacts.

Walsh Construction Co. of Chicago, Ill., with local offices in Canonsburg, Pa., was awarded a general
construction contract on May 1, 2007. Walsh, the lower of two bidders, received its formal Notice to Proceed
on May 17, 2007. McTish, Kunkel & Associates is the Commission’s construction manager. The current total
construction cost is $193,558,157.

Twin bridges approximately 2,350 feet long and up to 120 feet high are being built as post-
tensioned, cast-in-place concrete box girders using the “balanced-cantilever” method. Rather than having
conventional girders erected from the ground and a concrete deck cast on top, concrete is pumped to the top
of the piers, and the box girder and deck are placed together 16 feet at a time – 16 feet out going one
direction and 16 feet out the other direction from each pier to maintain balance. This type of construction is
typically faster and minimizes disturbances to areas below. Each bridge will be about 61 feet wide including
three 12-foot travel lanes, an outside shoulder 12-feet wide and an inside shoulder 10-feet wide.

The design by Figg Bridge Engineers was inspired by local landscape features and includes a
variable-depth superstructure and a stone pattern on twin-walled, rectangular piers. In addition to abutments
at either end, each bridge will have two piers on either side of the main commercial channel of the Allegheny
River and two piers in the back (recreational) channel. Construction will utilize nearly 50,000 cubic yards of
concrete - enough to fill Heinz Field 27 feet deep. Some 3,000 tons of steel reinforcement is being put into
the new bridges.

The reconstruction project includes replacement of the Gulf Lab Road overpass near UPARC just
west of the river. Gulf Lab Road (State Route 1008) was closed at its Turnpike crossing on Sept. 4, 2007 and
reopened in 2009.

Other components of the project are new entrance (acceleration) and exit (deceleration) ramps for
the Allegheny Valley Interchange, two new bridges to carry I-76 over the interchange ramps, a new
pedestrian bridge over the Turnpike serving Oakmont Country Club (already completed) and the construction
of five retaining walls. The fare-collection lanes at Allegheny Valley were reconstructed in 1996 and will
remain unchanged and in their present location.

Two retaining walls - one approximately 1,300 feet long and 30 feet high and the other
approximately 600 feet long and 70 feet high - were completed along the Oakmont Country Club on the
eastbound side of the Turnpike. Two more retaining walls 12 to 16 feet high - one about 400 feet long and
the other about 200 feet long - have been built along the realigned ramps at the Allegheny Valley
Interchange. A fifth retaining wall approximately 1,000 feet long and 60 feet high was built adjacent to Gulf
Lab Road and UPARC.

The eastbound structure, which opened in October of 2009, is currently carrying both east and STA Y IN FOR MED
westbound Turnpike traffic. The westbound structure, and all associated construction, is scheduled for
For the latest project information, visit the PA
completion this November.
Turnpike Web site at www. pat urnpik e.c om