It was 1991, and Frank Dermody was starting his first term in the state House. The Hulton Bridge, then 83 years old, had just been renovated. As an added touch, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation painted it lilac, an experiment in unconventional coloration that began and ended right there.
“When it was finished, the federal government said it would not contribute another dime [to the bridge] because it’s so old,” Mr. Dermody recalled last week. “Since that time, I’ve spent my time trying to get a new bridge.”
Governors came and went — Robert P. Casey, Tom Ridge, Mark Schweiker, Ed Rendell. “We got funding in fits and starts,” Mr. Dermody said.
One day, he said, Mr. Rendell advised him that money was tight and design of a new bridge would have to be halted. Not long after that, Mr. Rendell was campaigning for re-election in the area and Mr. Dermody was bending the governor’s ear about the project.
“I’ve been bugging him and saying, ’You’ve got to see this bridge,’ ” Mr. Dermody said. Traveling from Cheswick to Oakmont, the governor’s tour bus arrived at the span.
“He gets hung up. The bus driver’s in a jam trying to cross the Hulton Bridge. The governor turns to me and says, ’Dermody, you weren’t kidding.’”
Soon thereafter, Mr. Rendell delivered money to restart the design, and come Oct. 20, Mr. Dermody’s wish will finally come true as a new $65.7 million bridge will open, spanning the Allegheny River between Harmar and Oakmont. It will dwarf its 1908-vintage predecessor.
The 1,600-foot-long bridge will have four lanes, double the number on the current bridge; a 4-foot-wide median and 6-foot-wide shoulder, where the old bridge has none; and improvements at both ends to speed traffic flow. Two left-turn lanes will be open on southbound Freeport Road to carry traffic to the bridge and two eastbound lanes on the Oakmont end extending from the bridge to Allegheny Avenue.
A 5-foot-wide concrete sidewalk with observation areas will grace the downstream side. It will be fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, PennDOT Secretary Leslie Richards said.
Before it opens, motorists will have to deal with more pain — the old bridge will close Oct. 5 so the contractor, Brayman Construction of Saxonburg, can align the roads with the new bridge. That will send drivers on long detours to bridges in Highland Park and New Kensington.
By design, the new bridge will be in place for the 2016 U.S. Open golf championship in June at Oakmont Country Club in Plum. Mr. Dermody said the United States Golf Association “wasn’t going to have any more opens at Oakmont unless we had better access. This bridge is crucial to that.”
“This is crucial to the future of the Allegheny Valley, not just Oakmont,” he said. “It’s going to make a huge difference in the lives of the people of the Allegheny Valley.”
The old bridge, which carried an average of 26,000 vehicles per day and was rated structurally deficient, will meet its demise sometime next year. It will be imploded.
Jon Schmitz: jschmitz@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1868 or on Twitter @pgtraffic.
First Published: September 25, 2015, 4:00 a.m.