The Liberty Tunnels, which opened in 1924, blasted a wide path through the five-mile-long wall of Mount Washington, but initially the tubes had ventilation problems.

Before the Liberty Bridge was built, some commuters traveled through the South Hills Trolley Tunnel while others took inclines to Mount Oliver and Knoxville.

The four-lane Liberty Bridge opened in March 1928, providing the first direct route to Downtown for South Hills motorists. The linking of the tunnels with a bridge spurred development of streetcar communities such as Brookline, Dormont and Mt. Lebanon.

As motorists left Downtown and headed toward the South Hills, they traveled through a traffic circle with a small monument at the intersection of P.J. McArdle Roadway. The circle is long gone.

The bridge links the Liberty Tunnels with the Boulevard of the Allies Downtown and Crosstown Boulevard. Its opening was timely because by 1929, there were 300,000 cars registered in Allegheny County. The northern end of the Liberty Bridge splits, and its outer ramps connect with the Boulevard of the Allies, built in 1921, while its center lanes slope down to Forbes Avenue and Crosstown Boulevard.

A few years later, between 1930-31, Saw Mill Run Boulevard and the West End Bridge were built to improve travel around the 5-mile-long wall created by Mount Washington. More than half a century later, in 1999, an interchange with Saw Mill Run Boulevard was completed at the southern portal of the Liberty Tunnels.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette enthused about the new Liberty Bridge on its editorial page, noting that ... 10 years ago, the Liberty Tunnels and this bridge were regarded by many as mere fancies.

Designed by engineer George S. Richardson, it is a cantilever deck Pratt truss bridge made of steel and concrete piers, and it stretches for 2,663 feet. When it was finished, it was the citys longest and most expensive bridge because it cost $3.7 million. It had sidewalks, and its piers, which originally rose to deck level, were rusticated concrete towers.

In 1983, the bridge was rebuilt and its roadway was widened, but its architectural character was lost. Construction workers removed the functional Victorian-era lamps, iron railings and decorative posts atop the piers. This gave motorists a clear view of the Monongahela River.

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Liberty Bridge: Providing a direct route