| November
22, 2004
 (Pittsburgh, Pa.) The Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania,
in association with Roads & Bridges magazine and Bayer Corporation,
recently presented the Mingo Creek Viaduct with the Gustav
Lindenthal Medal. The award recognizes a single, recent outstanding achievement
in bridge engineering, demonstrating technical innovation, aesthetic
merit, harmony with the environment, and successful community participation.
Gannett Fleming, an international planning, design, and construction
management firm, designed the Mingo Creek Viaduct for the Pennsylvania
Turnpike Commission (PTC). According to the award judges, the site
for the viaducts presented designers with several unique challenges
in the rural valley setting of Washington County. These obstacles
involved overcoming difficult topographic and geological conditions
and mitigating the aftermath of room-and-pillar coal mining operations
in the area. The bridge was also to be built over the 200-foot active
P&LE Railroad trestle, listed on the National Register of Historic
Places.
The resulting 2,440 foot-long curved expressway viaducts required
300-feet spans and piers extending to 260 feet high. Due to these
dimensions, the PTC decided to employ Grade 70 high-performance weathering
steel. This marked the first time the PTC used the steel for one
of its structures. Extending from West Virginia to Route 51 south
of Pittsburgh, the bridge is the second tallest roadway bridge in
Pennsylvania and the largest on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
The Mingo Creek Viaduct has been recently recognized with several
awards, including the Pennsylvania Partnership for Highway Quality
Structure Award, Long Span Prize Bridge Award in the 2003 National
Steel Bridge Alliance Prize Bridge Competition, and the Diamond Award
for Engineering Excellence in the 2003 American Council of Engineering
Companies of Pennsylvania’s Diamond Awards for Engineering
Excellence.
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