In October 1918, fifteen prominent Pittsburgh businessmen organized the Citizens' Committee on a City Plan for Pittsburgh and appointed Fredrick Bigger, executive secretary. This organization, later renamed the Municpal Planning Commission, began to work on ways to improve downtown and specifically the Point area, which was covered by Pennsylvania Railroad and Wabash Railroad terminals and yards in addition to a large complex of Exposition Buildings. Various organizations promoted their vision for upgrading the Point area, including a 1930s plan to honor George Rogers Clark at the Point. More sweeping plans began to propose the clearing of the lower Point in favor of a landscaped park. The plan was originally assumed to be destined to become a National Park Service facility. The NPS guidelines required that the original historic structures of Fort Pitt and Fort Duquesne be accurately reconstructed in their original locations. This would have covered the entire park area leaving no room for the needed traffic improvements. With the political contributions of Richard King Mellon and Mayor David L. Lawrence, the plan evolved into a state park. This allowed more flexibility for working all of the historical, recreational, landscaping, and traffic planning elements into a more balanced plan. Gordon Bunshaft, architect with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, suggested a very long, flat arch and new technology in prestressed reinforcing rods in concrete would make it possible, if difficult. The Stotz brothers designed "a flat concrete rib arch with a span of 182 feet. The design below the highway was completed with the addition of a gently arching, forty-foot wide, pedestrian bridge over a shallow reflecting pool. #architecture #concretebridge #raw_bridges #onlyinPennsylvania #blackandwhite #bridgehunter #citykillerz #architecture_magazine #bridgesofinstagram #bnw_captures #city_captures #bridge #pennsylvaniaarchitecture #bnw_greatshots #bridges_of_theworld #architecturephoto #bridgephotography #bridgesoftheworld #bridges_of_our_world #bridges_of_instagram (at Point State Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/CQep1-lraD6/?utm_medium=tumblr
