Building the Fifth Street Bridge
I am always very appreciative to all those who have shared pictures with Ellwood City Memories. Sometimes I am unable to get the pictures onto the site right away as I have to make sure they are not copyrighted, but pictures like these that were donated by Scott Mackey make my task very easy.
I would like to thank Scott for these pictures he took of the construction of the current Veterans Memorial Bridge on Fifth Street. It is very easy to forget how much further west the old Fifth Street Bridge was located. I know it is mentioned a lot how the construction of the current bridge drastically changed the landscape to the Hazel Dell business district and also led to the destruction of the oldest building in Ellwood City. However, I for one do not miss driving around that island at the intersection where the end of the bridge ran into Wampum Avenue (west), Todd Avenue, North Street, and Wampum Avenue (east).
In the one picture you can still see that under portion of the bridge closet to the bank where outside pillars are cement, there used to be a large arch like a road ran under the bridge. Does anyone know if there was a road or walkway that ran under the bridge?
Speaking of under the bridge, that pathway they built to get the cranes and cement trucks to the creek would have been a fantastic addition to Ellwood City. A pathway to the creek and a path wide enough to ride a bicycle to Ewing Park would have been a nice little side effect project. There is still a pathway up from the creek at the Ewing Park Bridge. A smaller foot bridge at the site of the old Harmony Line Bridge connecting the path to Ewing Park would have been nice and maybe someday might happen. You can see that the construction workers built a temporary bridge across the creek in one of these pictures so I guess I can hope.
Back to the bridge, who remembers the 4′ x 4′ sheets of steel they used to cover up the holes on the sidewalk of the old bridge? I remember walking to school across that bridge and the cement would be crumbling away exposing the steel grid under the cement until one day you are walking to school (freezing) and then all of a sudden there was a hole. After a couple of days, they would just cover the hole with a steel plate and you would start watching the next spot wear away.
Speaking of the sidewalks, do you remember the large cement barriers separating the sidewalks from the roads? Those were not there when the bridge was originally built. The only thing separating the road and sidewalk originally was a normal six inch curb. I remember the way the bridge moved when the Forge trucks or Blanks trucks went across, who ever decided to add the barriers, thank you.
Yep, I remember the holes in the sidewalk. Pretty messed up if you think about it. I also remember how easy it was to climb over the railing and walk on the little ledge. Dont know why, but I used to do that often. LOL The best thing was walking home from school and about halfway across, the smell from Red Hots would hit you. I MISS RED HOTS!!!!
When was there only a 6 inch curb on the old bridge? I think I remember a barrier curb in the 1950′s. I thought I sat on it to watch parades. I do know there were lovely ornate street lights that were removed in the update in the early 60′s. They also put in higher barrier curbs. The end result was not as pretty as the original.
One morning I was working out at the wellness center and Rep Frank Lagrotta came in to work out the topic of converstion was the 5th St bridge and I told him the sidewalk was in bad shape and I told him there were holes in the sidewalk that a small child’s leg could go through. I thought maybe they could steel plate the holes or do something. Late that night I saw Frank with a flashlight checking out the bridge I went to bed about 9:00AM and when I got up at 4:00 PM the jersey barriers were up creating a new sidewalk by walking on the side of the road with the safety barriers in place. I really never expected our little disagreement to get acted upon so fast.