The road is wider and the holes are gone on the 31st Street Bridge. PennDOT spent the past two years and $27 million to rehabilitate what arguably was Pittsburgh’s worst bridge. The agency reopened the Allegheny River crossing this morning after a short ceremony. The bridge closure might have shortened the wait for Route 28 drivers at the northern end but it added traffic to Lawrenceville’s already-congested streets and disrupted some business in the Strip District. Those neighborhoods welcome the reopening. “It definitely will help Lawrenceville and the Strip District, and will help people coming in on Route 28, so it will be a good thing,” said Becky Rodgers, executive director of Neighbors in the Strip. Lawrenceville residents now expect fewer delays on Butler Street, especially at the intersection with 40th Street, which became a main detour route. “We have noticed more congestion around the 40th Street Bridge,” said resident Tony Ceoffe, a community activist. “I think that you’ve got to make it comfortable to come into the community. If it’s too uncomfortable, people aren’t going to come because they don’t want to sit in the traffic.” The bridge, used by 7,000 motorists daily, closed in February 2006 for its first makeover in 30 years. In addition to replacing the bridge deck, parts of its main structure and widening the driving surface from 28 to 34 feet, PennDOT also added decorative lighting and repainted the bridge light blue. A new sidewalk was built on the downstream side. Previously, pedestrians could look down and see the river through holes in the old, buckling sidewalk. Allegheny County built the bridge in 1927-28 to meet a requirement that all bridges over the Allegheny River be raised to accommodate river traffic, according to pghbridges.com. A previous bridge was aligned with 30th Street, which connects to Herr’s Island. That bridge was destroyed by fire in 1921, the Web site says.

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