I was just reading about the bridges of Pittsburgh. There are over 400 of them. There are bridges named after Roberto Clemente and Andy Warhol.
Another of my favorite bridges is the Murray Avenue Bridge. I think I’m attached to it someway because when I was little, we would walk from Shady Ave. Ext–my sister was in a stroller then–down the Lilac Street Hill, then onto Murray Avenue. When we crossed the bridge we’d be at the Morrowfield where my grandmother lived. When I looked down, the Parkway was visible. And I always loved my grandmother who lived in the Morrowfield.
Also, and this was much, much later, I would be driving to Pittsburgh to see my mother, coming along Route 28, and at that time, the way to get to the Fort Pitt Bridge–a bridge I didn’t like–was to get off 28 at the 40th Street Bridge.
When I made that trip alone for the first time I have to admit I was scared. But it was just so nice to turn left onto 40th Street and wind up at the entrance to Bloomfield. A couple more blocks and there’s the Strip District. I wanted to park the car somewhere and go shopping for delicious foods–the kind we never get where we live now–but I knew my mother was waiting for me impatiently so I kept going.
Here’s a funny thought. Part of the fun of this particular trip was getting lost. It sometimes took me a while to find the Fort Pitt Bridge but I was still enough of a Pittsburgher to basically know where I was going. I never liked the Fort Pitt Bridge because it’s really very frightening, driving across it and making sure you’re in the right lane! Every time I changed lanes I was preparing my soul to die because people drive so fast. If you missed the lane that went through the Fort Pitt tunnels you ended up in a place that I think was the beginning of Mt. Washington. Then being lost wasn’t any fun anymore!!!
lgmwriting 