By Linda Tancs

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is located at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, the source of the Ohio River.  Needless to say, a water town will have its share of bridges.  But 446?  That’s the oft-quoted number of bridges in Pennsylvania’s second largest city, reason enough for the nickname “City of Bridges.”   This Gateway to the West has more bridges than Venice, Italy (431 tops most estimates).  But if you think the ooze of romance emanating from the trusses and beams of its European counterpart is lost on this city of steel, think again.  Even The New Yorker magazine proclaimed:  “If Pittsburgh were situated somewhere in the heart of Europe, tourists would eagerly journey hundreds of miles out of their way to visit it.”  And why not?  Where else will you find a bridge crossed by a young George Washington while acting as a messenger of the governor of Virginia to the French forces.  Or a trio of identical bridges across the Allegheny River, the only such group in the world.  Or a bridge whose name depends on the outcome of the annual football game between the two rival high schools of Rochester and Monaca.  And then there’s historic Smithfield Street Bridge, designed by John Roebling, America’s best known civil engineer and architect of the Brooklyn Bridge.  You get the drift.