Bull Creek Rd Bridge No. 2 over Bull Creek - Bridges and Tunnels of Allegheny County and Pittsburgh, PA

Upstream arch wall

More detail photos

OFFICIAL NAME:
Allegheny County Bridge No. 2 Bull Creek [BL02]

OTHER DESIGNATION:
Bull Creek Rd over Bull Creek
curt604-7

LOCATION:
Fawn Twp

USGS 7.5" Topo Quad - UTM Coordinates:
Curtisville - Zone 17; 0604 4498

CARRIES:
Bull Creek Rd [Red Belt]

BETWEEN:
-- north of Houston Dr and Bartley Hollow Rd
-- south of Haas Ln

CROSSES:
-- Bull Creek

TYPE OF CONSTRUCTION / DESIGN:
concrete arch with stone facing
locally-quarried sandstone
outer spandrel wall: rock-faced coursed ashlar
upper walls and parapets: dressed coursed ashlar
arch ring: dressed stepped voussoirs in segmental arch

LENGTH OF MAIN SPAN:
53 ft

TOTAL LENGTH (including longest elevated ramp):
ft
ft wide, between parapets at center

HEIGHT OF DECK:

YEAR ERECTED / ENGINEER:
1922, Allegheny County
James G. Chalfant, County Engineer
Vernon Royce Covell, County Engineer

ADDITIONAL INFO:
Numerous small stone arch bridges were built under the tenure of Charles Davis as County Engineer. Upon the death of Davis in 1907, James Graham Chalfant was elected to the position of County Engineer. Two of the projects undertaken by Chalfant were the reconstruction and widening of stone arch bridges of Davis: Beaver Rd over Big and Little Sewickley Creeks, 1919 and 1918 respectively. In those projects, the stonework design which may be seen as Davis' signature was retained, but the reconstruction of the bridges were done as concrete arch.

When the time came to build new bridges over streams elsewhere within the county, Chalfant evolved from the Roman simplicity of Davis. These bridges mark the introduction of stepped voussoirs along the arch ring. Other details in the stonework continued to echo the Davis design: rock-faced, coursed ashlar and rounded parapets. But the major change evident in the new structures is the use of the filled concrete arch -- the stonework is mainly a decorative covering.

While nearly two dozen of the small stone spans by Davis still exist, perhaps half that number remain of the Chalfant design. This bridge over Bull Creek was built in 1922, the year of Chalfant's death, at which time V.R. Covell became Allegheny County's third County Engineer. Evidently only one more bridge of this design was built following Chalfant's passing: Union Av over Robinson Run in Oakdale (1925). Beginning about 1910, new county bridges were being constructed solely in concrete using a design which mimicked the earlier stone arches.

A metal plaque is embedded at the center of the downstream parapet:

ALLEGHENY COUNTY
BRIDGE NO. 2
BULL CREEK
ERECTED 1922

Adjacent upstream (east) of the span, there is evidence of an earlier crossing. On left descending bank of Bull Creek a cut stone abutment is visible.

FIELD CHECKED:
13-Oct-2002

INFO SOURCES:
field check

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Introduction -- Nearby Structures

Page created:
Last modified: 19-Mar-2003

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