The Pittsburgh Area is Known as the City of Bridges and for good reason and not just Pittsburgh but Allegheny county as well and one magnificent looking bridge is the Tarrentum Bridge in Northern Allegheny County which connects Tarrentum to New Kensington .
Built in 1949 and over 1700 feet long its quite the attraction in the valley with Thousands of cars a day going back and forth it.
Now the bridge has been a source of many accidents over the years primarily because of people speeding over it and the deck freezing solid during winter storms. But in general its a very safe bridge which has seen several renovations.
However in 1968 a Mysterious Accident occurred which kept many drivers Leary to drive over the bridge for many years.
on November 20 a young mother on her way to work would cross the bridge in here vehicle and plunge to her death .27 yr old Anita Sluka apparently never knew what hit her . A waitress at Eat N Park Restaurant some how flipped her car several times on the slick road bed that had become icy from high winds and landed over the 3 ft high railing plunging to her death.
Rescue crews arrived and had one hell of a time getting to the car and raising it . Finally a West Penn Power boom truck with long enough cables was brought in and raised the car which was severely damaged but Mrs Sulka was not where to be found. her body was not recovered till the next year when it sadly floated to the surface which happens all too often when it comes to those unfortunate to be dragged in by the Allegheny Rivers strong undertow .
Now because of the little to no damage of the bridge decking and railing motorists got spooked thinking her car was blown off the bridge by the high winds and many refused to us it till convinced otherwise.
Having lived in the time period and knowing how big and heavy cars where back then still makes you wonder exactly what happened and how she ended up over the railing.
You can read the full Trib article by clicking the above highlighted link.
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