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Ceremonial groundbreaking held for new Davis Avenue Bridge

April 11, 2024 / 12:28 PM EDT / CBS Pittsburgh

Groundbreaking held for new Davis Ave. Bridge

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - The City of Pittsburgh is continuing its work of reconnecting neighborhoods.

A symbolic groundbreaking was held on Thursday morning for the new Davis Avenue Bridge in Brighton Heights.

A rendering was shown of what the bridge will look like once complete and it will connect Brighton Heights to Riverview Park.

A rendering of what the bridge will look like once it is complete. City of Pittsburgh

It will be both a bike and pedestrian bridge.

"Right now, people that used to have to take about an hour to get into this park, right from this community," said Mayor Ed Gainey. "No longer [will they] have that problem, now, they'll be able to soon just walk across and enjoy it."

The old Davis Avenue Bridge was imploded back in 2009.

Originally built in 1898, the bridge lacked modern safety features and had decades of wear and tear.

The groundbreaking today for the new bridge has been a long time coming for those who live nearby.

Pittsburgh

Patrick Damp

Patrick Damp is a web producer for CBS Pittsburgh. A Pittsburgh native who grew up watching KDKA-TV, Patrick studied journalism at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. After half a decade in sports communication, Patrick decided to pursue his dream of working in journalism in his hometown and joined the CBS Pittsburgh team in 2019.