One of what appears to be one of the longest running myths involving the George Westinghouse Bridge which carry's US 30 The Lincoln Highway over the town of East Pittsburgh and the Turtle Creek Valley is that there are workers embedded with in the concrete who fell in during the massive concrete pour .I drive over the bridge every few weeks and looked into the story and
well it is nothing more than an Urban Myth . The bridge was done in many large pours but not all at one time and no worker fell into the concrete and was entombed. In fact if this did happen it would threaten the integrity of the concrete. All work would stop and the section of concrete removed and re-poured according to structural engineers . Penn Dot dept of engineering has come out on numerous occasions over the bridges many celebratory years and refuted any one being stuck in the concrete .
But the rumor persists. Same for the Hoover Dam , Brooklyn Bridge etc. Now yes workers did get severely hurt and there was at least one possible death of a worker falling off the structure but falling into and remaining in the concrete ? No it did not happen. How ever the bridge has been the end point of many desperate people lives when they jumped the 200+ feet from and took their lives at least 30 body's have ended up below the bridge since it was built in 1932. and the bridge has had many deadly vehicle accidents on it especially in winter time and many desperate actions of those attempting suicide have closed the bridge and played out as well.
Yeah, I heard the myth growing up in the area. Thanks for the article.
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