Union Railroad [URR] over former Pennsylvania Railroad [PRR, NSRR] and Turtle Creek - Bridges and Tunnels of Allegheny County and Pittsburgh, PA

URR to PRR [NSRR] Port Perry Branch [bridge closed]

(left to right) PRR Port Perry branch, U junction bridge over Turtle Creek, URR High Grade Viaduct over Turtle Creek, URR Low Grade Viaduct to Edgar Thomson, elevated Braddock Ave, URR over PRR

(left to right) U Junction, former Westinghouse Inter-Works Railway, former Braddock Ave and Pittsburgh Railways streetcar, URR High and Low Grade Viaducts

U Junction bridge connected PRR with URR across Turtle Creek

OFFICIAL NAME:

OTHER DESIGNATION:
U Junction

LOCATION:
East Pittsburgh - North Versailles

USGS 7.5" Topo Quad - UTM Coordinates:
Braddock - Zone 17; 0598 4471

CARRIED:
-- connection between URR and PRR

BETWEEN:
-- Union Railroad Port Perry Yard at Edgar Thomson Steel Works
-- Pennsylvania Railroad Port Perry Branch

CROSSES:
-- Turtle Creek

TYPE OF CONSTRUCTION / DESIGN:
deck girder

LENGTH OF MAIN SPAN:
(north to south) 60 ft est [removed], 90 ft est, 100 ft est

TOTAL LENGTH (including longest elevated ramp):
250 ft est

HEIGHT OF DECK:

YEAR ERECTED / ENGINEER:

ADDITIONAL INFO:
This was the townsite of Brinton, then Bessemer Junction, now part North Versailles and part East Pittsburgh. Where the Turtle Creek Valley opens to meet the Monongahela River had been mentioned in many historical documents related to George Washington, his rivalry with George Croghan, the cabin of trader John Fraser and others. The Turtle Creek Valley was prominent in its location on the Pennsylvania Railroad mainline between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. The rail line had been completed from Pittsburgh to Turtle Creek in December 1851. A final section completed in November, 1852, opened the line to Philadelphia. The Edgar Thomson Works began operations in 1875, using the Bessemer process for the mass production of steel. The town of Brinton was plotted in 1890 and that same year, George Westinghouse began building numerous manufacturing complexes which ultimately stretched from East Pittsburgh as far upstream as Trafford.

The ensuing industrial prosperity would overtake both Brinton and it neighbor to the south Port Perry. It was said the this area had the most dense rail traffic in the world. Over time, its location at the nexus of road and rail would obliterate all remants of the town: the Pennsylvania Railroad mainline and its branch to cross the Monongahela River at Port Perry (1877), the Bessemer & Lake Erie (1897, later the Union Railroad and its own crossing at Port Perry), the connection between the two at U Junction, the George Westinghouse Memorial Bridge (1930) and the expansion of the Port Perry yard at Edgar Thomson with the URR's High Grade and Low Grade Viaducts (1945).

The last of the town's buildings were removed when Braddock Avenue was bypassed in this area with an elevated section of four-lane roadway in 1974.

FIELD CHECKED:
21-Aug-2004

INFO SOURCES:
field check; Hopkins map, 1903

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Introduction -- Nearby Structures

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Last modified: 13-Apr-2009

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