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Its stuff like this that scares me. Pittsburgh claims to have more bridges than any other city in the world.[0] You're driving around here, and you cross little

Its stuff like this that scares me. Pittsburgh claims to have more bridges than any other city in the world.[0] You're driving around here, and you cross little ones without noticing. I hope I'm not ever near (or using) a collapsing one. The rivers are big here. [0] https://www.bbc.com/news/av/magazine-30187252 https://www.bbc.com/news/av/magazine-30187252 Edit: not bridge related, but a sinkhole opened downtown over 2 years ago, also swallowing a bus: https://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2019/10/28/Port-Authority-falls-sinkhole-in-Downtown-Pittsburgh/stories/201910280067 https://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2019/10/28/...

throw7 5y ago
Bridge became disjointed in Albany: https://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=130405 https://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=130405 I remember it pretty vividly because the woman who drove over it was on the local news in tears. Could have been much worse.
jacquesm 5y ago
Well, statistically then, this all makes sense. As these things come it could have been a lot worse. I immediately thought back to the bridge collapse in Italy not all that long ago. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponte_Morandi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponte_Morandi
- mlac 5y ago
  It looked like light traffic on a morning commute. Unfortunate a bus was on there. But during rush hour, traffic is fully backed up there and stacked on the road. It could have easily been 30-40 cars + a bus instead of what was there.
  - jacquesm 5y ago
    Very, very lucky. Taking into account the kinds of vehicles you come across every day, hazardous goods, school buses and so on.
Findecanor 5y ago
I think the city of Hamburg could have more bridges, but it depends a lot on how you count. Do you count only road bridges? Do you count only the city centre?
- DominikPeters 5y ago
  BBC article mentions 446 bridges in Pittsburgh, Wikipedia mentions 2,496 bridges in Hamburg, with 1,172 road bridges. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bridges_in_Hamburg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bridges_in_Hamburg
  - owlninja 5y ago
    I imagine it is just a quirk of the city and people given it also says "and don't try telling locals otherwise."
  - notahacker 5y ago
    Other obvious comparison points off the top of my head would be Venice (~400 bridges, much smaller than Pittsburgh if you count the island city rather than the broader region), Amsterdam (bigger, but has 1200 bridges apparently) and Birmingham UK (no total for bridges found with a quick Google but there's 100 miles of canal and a lot of elevated urban motorway and railway). But the great thing about being the place with the 'most bridges in the world' is that if you've got an impressive number of bridges, who's counting?
  - ineedasername 5y ago
    It looks like that's still more bridges per capita for Pittsburgh, maybe that's the metric they're using.
    - BigJono 5y ago
      This sort of thing always crops up when comparing US cities to cities in other countries. Other countries tend to count more of the surrounding built up areas as part of the city itself. Whereas every time I look at a US city there's places chock full of buildings right next door that somehow don't count. Looking at Pittsburg there's a bunch of "townships" and things which would be considered part of the city in most other countries, which makes it difficult to compare absolute metrics like "number of bridges in the city".
deleted 5y ago
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pilingual 5y ago
I seem to recall Rick Sebak citing some statistics in his documentary about Pittsburgh's bridges, but I'm unsure of the details. The documentary reviews different types of bridges on the river, shows an inspection, and interviews people working on them. (All of Sebak's documentaries are recommended! I can't think of any other series that brings out the warmth and charm of a city.) https://www.wqed.org/watch/pittsburgh-history-series/flying-bridge-nowhere-fqwlth https://www.wqed.org/watch/pittsburgh-history-series/flying-...

throw7 5y ago

Bridge became disjointed in Albany: https://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=130405 https://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=130405 I remember it pretty vividly because the woman who drove over it was on the local news in tears. Could have been much worse.

jacquesm 5y ago

Well, statistically then, this all makes sense. As these things come it could have been a lot worse. I immediately thought back to the bridge collapse in Italy not all that long ago. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponte_Morandi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponte_Morandi

mlac 5y ago
It looked like light traffic on a morning commute. Unfortunate a bus was on there. But during rush hour, traffic is fully backed up there and stacked on the road. It could have easily been 30-40 cars + a bus instead of what was there.
- jacquesm 5y ago
  Very, very lucky. Taking into account the kinds of vehicles you come across every day, hazardous goods, school buses and so on.

Findecanor 5y ago

I think the city of Hamburg could have more bridges, but it depends a lot on how you count. Do you count only road bridges? Do you count only the city centre?

DominikPeters 5y ago
BBC article mentions 446 bridges in Pittsburgh, Wikipedia mentions 2,496 bridges in Hamburg, with 1,172 road bridges. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bridges_in_Hamburg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bridges_in_Hamburg
- owlninja 5y ago
  I imagine it is just a quirk of the city and people given it also says "and don't try telling locals otherwise."
- notahacker 5y ago
  Other obvious comparison points off the top of my head would be Venice (~400 bridges, much smaller than Pittsburgh if you count the island city rather than the broader region), Amsterdam (bigger, but has 1200 bridges apparently) and Birmingham UK (no total for bridges found with a quick Google but there's 100 miles of canal and a lot of elevated urban motorway and railway). But the great thing about being the place with the 'most bridges in the world' is that if you've got an impressive number of bridges, who's counting?
- ineedasername 5y ago
  It looks like that's still more bridges per capita for Pittsburgh, maybe that's the metric they're using.
  - BigJono 5y ago
    This sort of thing always crops up when comparing US cities to cities in other countries. Other countries tend to count more of the surrounding built up areas as part of the city itself. Whereas every time I look at a US city there's places chock full of buildings right next door that somehow don't count. Looking at Pittsburg there's a bunch of "townships" and things which would be considered part of the city in most other countries, which makes it difficult to compare absolute metrics like "number of bridges in the city".

deleted 5y ago

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pilingual 5y ago

I seem to recall Rick Sebak citing some statistics in his documentary about Pittsburgh's bridges, but I'm unsure of the details. The documentary reviews different types of bridges on the river, shows an inspection, and interviews people working on them. (All of Sebak's documentaries are recommended! I can't think of any other series that brings out the warmth and charm of a city.) https://www.wqed.org/watch/pittsburgh-history-series/flying-bridge-nowhere-fqwlth https://www.wqed.org/watch/pittsburgh-history-series/flying-...