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Thursday, September 01, 2022
Big Changes Are in Store For Pittsburgh's Three Sister Bridges
Pittsburgh Magazine: The three Sister Bridges, named for Roberto Clemente, Andy Warhol and Rachel Carson, are among Pittsburgh’s most identifiable images, and they’ll soon be getting an upgrade.
I remember the first few times I saw the Three Sister Bridges when I first moved to Pittsburgh. Obviously, one of the first things noticed is the bright yellow color. I kinda felt that they brought brightness to the whole city. After you get past the color you can see more details in the architecture and the industry that transformed Pittsburgh many years ago. It’s hard to think about Pittsburgh without thinking about these bridges. I am glad that they have decided to enhance them without changing anything about them. Lighting can be so powerful. I am excited for when I come out of Fort Pitt Tunnel and can look ahead and see them all lite up. Or for the next time that I go see a Pirates Baseball game and watch them turn on as the night presses on. It does seem like there is quite a bit of money going into this. It makes me wonder how long this “instillation” is going to take.
While I am not at all excited for closures on these hugely important for traffic flow bridges, I am so incredibly excited about the addition of these lights. I have loved watching the addition of lights on bridges in the past in Pittsburgh and seeing the way that they add to the beauty of the city and the uniqueness of our already unique bridges. I love the idea that these lights will be able to be used for things like light up night, New Years, and even Picklesburgh. The last one makes me laugh a little. I can totally see these lights being used for the pirates and Steelers games that happen right next to them. The lights of Pittsburgh are already iconic and used for so many awesome creative and meaningful purposes, I can't wait to see what these lights add to the bridges. I also can't wait to see if they keep the three bridges identical in their lighting or if they give each bridge some uniqueness in the way that the lights are positioned or designed.
I am extremely fascinated with this idea to add lighting to three bridges here in Pittsburgh. While they are magnificent on their own, as someone who really likes lighting, I’m so excited to see this installation go up! The other night when The University of Pittsburgh won their football game and the lights turned on the Cathedral of Learning, I was ecstatic. It’s a landmark for those who live in Pittsburgh to see those lights turn on after a victory. I’m sure adding these lights on the bridge might have the same effect as the victory lights on Cathy. I’m interested to learn about how they’ll control it with DMX, and even more interested to see how they will program those lights. And since this project is coming from an art installation, it will expose more people to the arts, and hey, maybe someone will see these lights on the bridge and want to create stuff like that too! - Hailey Garza
This is a super cool project that sounds like it will really make the three bridges pop at night. The article doesn’t specifically mention it, but I’m curious if this is part of the government (I don’t remember if it’s federal, state, or local) to spend a certain percentage of the overall cost on public art above a certain threshold. The only reason I even know about that is that the brand new Pittsburgh Regional Transit dedicated busway project from Oakland to downtown hits that threshold and they are currently taking applications for public art along the route. Either way this should be super cool and it of course ends up using DMX control much like many other architectural lighting systems. I’m also amazed at the funding breakdown and noticing how little is being contributed by the county and that no money is being contributed by the city. Hopefully it opens before I graduate.
I will admit, the first thing that came to mind when I read the title of this article was that the bridges were getting an overhaul to save them from a similar fate as the Frick bridge, which we are all familiar with the great collapse of this past year. I drove past one of the three sister bridges yesterday on my way to the Water Lantern festival and noticed it was closed with some seemingly very intense construction/construction machinery going on on it. This further strengthened my response to my initial read of the title. That being said, the moment I started reading the article, I realized just how wrong I was. I think this is a really cool project to liven up the bridges. It makes me think of the lighting on the Pausch bridge next to Purnell and the bridge lighting class that Cindy teaches. This lead me to think – what if, once the project on the bridges is complete, the Pausch bridge lighting course is expanded to include the lighting on the sister bridges? This would be an incredible opportunity for the students in that class, not to mention, just being a really cool ~thing~ to say you have done. I am excited to see the ultimate result of this uplift project.
Coming from Florida, which is essentially flat with swamplands and lakes, we didn't have many bridges like these. As soon as I arrived in Pittsburgh, it was a shock seeing a hilly view filled with bridges of varying color and architectural style. Perhaps the most iconic and recognizable, however, are the Three Sister Bridges. Their bright yellow color adds vibrance and character to the city, and it still is exciting when I get to see them in passing or drive over them. It is a genius idea to add lighting to them, and so smart to pre-program them to change with the seasons and events happening in the city. I liked how this article described the funding and lighting fixture information that they will use. This makes me wonder just how long these bridges that are so massively important to the traffic flow are going to be closed for these upgrades, and how that will affect the transportation in Pittsburgh.
6 comments:
I remember the first few times I saw the Three Sister Bridges when I first moved to Pittsburgh. Obviously, one of the first things noticed is the bright yellow color. I kinda felt that they brought brightness to the whole city. After you get past the color you can see more details in the architecture and the industry that transformed Pittsburgh many years ago. It’s hard to think about Pittsburgh without thinking about these bridges. I am glad that they have decided to enhance them without changing anything about them. Lighting can be so powerful. I am excited for when I come out of Fort Pitt Tunnel and can look ahead and see them all lite up. Or for the next time that I go see a Pirates Baseball game and watch them turn on as the night presses on. It does seem like there is quite a bit of money going into this. It makes me wonder how long this “instillation” is going to take.
While I am not at all excited for closures on these hugely important for traffic flow bridges, I am so incredibly excited about the addition of these lights. I have loved watching the addition of lights on bridges in the past in Pittsburgh and seeing the way that they add to the beauty of the city and the uniqueness of our already unique bridges. I love the idea that these lights will be able to be used for things like light up night, New Years, and even Picklesburgh. The last one makes me laugh a little. I can totally see these lights being used for the pirates and Steelers games that happen right next to them. The lights of Pittsburgh are already iconic and used for so many awesome creative and meaningful purposes, I can't wait to see what these lights add to the bridges. I also can't wait to see if they keep the three bridges identical in their lighting or if they give each bridge some uniqueness in the way that the lights are positioned or designed.
I am extremely fascinated with this idea to add lighting to three bridges here in Pittsburgh. While they are magnificent on their own, as someone who really likes lighting, I’m so excited to see this installation go up! The other night when The University of Pittsburgh won their football game and the lights turned on the Cathedral of Learning, I was ecstatic. It’s a landmark for those who live in Pittsburgh to see those lights turn on after a victory. I’m sure adding these lights on the bridge might have the same effect as the victory lights on Cathy. I’m interested to learn about how they’ll control it with DMX, and even more interested to see how they will program those lights. And since this project is coming from an art installation, it will expose more people to the arts, and hey, maybe someone will see these lights on the bridge and want to create stuff like that too! - Hailey Garza
This is a super cool project that sounds like it will really make the three bridges pop at night. The article doesn’t specifically mention it, but I’m curious if this is part of the government (I don’t remember if it’s federal, state, or local) to spend a certain percentage of the overall cost on public art above a certain threshold. The only reason I even know about that is that the brand new Pittsburgh Regional Transit dedicated busway project from Oakland to downtown hits that threshold and they are currently taking applications for public art along the route. Either way this should be super cool and it of course ends up using DMX control much like many other architectural lighting systems. I’m also amazed at the funding breakdown and noticing how little is being contributed by the county and that no money is being contributed by the city. Hopefully it opens before I graduate.
I will admit, the first thing that came to mind when I read the title of this article was that the bridges were getting an overhaul to save them from a similar fate as the Frick bridge, which we are all familiar with the great collapse of this past year. I drove past one of the three sister bridges yesterday on my way to the Water Lantern festival and noticed it was closed with some seemingly very intense construction/construction machinery going on on it. This further strengthened my response to my initial read of the title. That being said, the moment I started reading the article, I realized just how wrong I was. I think this is a really cool project to liven up the bridges. It makes me think of the lighting on the Pausch bridge next to Purnell and the bridge lighting class that Cindy teaches. This lead me to think – what if, once the project on the bridges is complete, the Pausch bridge lighting course is expanded to include the lighting on the sister bridges? This would be an incredible opportunity for the students in that class, not to mention, just being a really cool ~thing~ to say you have done. I am excited to see the ultimate result of this uplift project.
Coming from Florida, which is essentially flat with swamplands and lakes, we didn't have many bridges like these. As soon as I arrived in Pittsburgh, it was a shock seeing a hilly view filled with bridges of varying color and architectural style. Perhaps the most iconic and recognizable, however, are the Three Sister Bridges. Their bright yellow color adds vibrance and character to the city, and it still is exciting when I get to see them in passing or drive over them. It is a genius idea to add lighting to them, and so smart to pre-program them to change with the seasons and events happening in the city. I liked how this article described the funding and lighting fixture information that they will use. This makes me wonder just how long these bridges that are so massively important to the traffic flow are going to be closed for these upgrades, and how that will affect the transportation in Pittsburgh.
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