THE ELECTRIC VALLEY

The triumph of Westinghouse’s alternating current over Thomas Edison’s direct current for lighting was confirmed at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. One hundred thousand incandescent bulbs burst into light to the accompaniment of Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus (a moment that inspired Frank Baum to write the Wizard of Oz). The great breakthrough came when Westinghouse bested Edison for the contract to harness the power of Niagara Falls. In 1896, his Tesla generators lit the city of Buffalo and permitted Niagara’s power to illuminate New York’s Broadway.
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The Westinghouse Bridge provides a dramatic crossing for US Route 30 (the Lincoln Highway) over the Turtle Creek Valley and is best appreciated by traveling under it from the Edgar Thomson mill to the former Westinghouse Electric complex (now Keystone Commons). Nearly a half-mile long, it crosses the valley with five graceful concrete spans 240 feet above the valley. When it was completed in 1932, it was the world’s longest concrete arch structure. The Pittsburgh region has more bridges than any other city in the world. The Westinghouse Bridge rises as a jewel in the region’s crown and a impressive tribute to the ironworkers, carpenters, cement masons, operating engineers, pile drivers, laborers, and other trades who built it.

Westinghouse Bridge – US Rt. 30 (Penn Lincoln Highway) over Turtle Creek, East Pittsburgh