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The Hulton Bridge - Oakmont, PAThe Hulton Bridge is the first bridge, as you travel up the Allegheny River, that is not in the City of Pittsburgh. It is 5.9 miles upstream from the Highland Park Bridge and you have to go another 7.3 miles before finding another non-toll vehicular bridge. The bridge extends from Hulton Road in Oakmont to intersect with Freeport Road in Harmar Township.
There is only one lane of vehicular traffic in each direction and a walkway on the downstream side of the deck.
The construction is a steel Pratt through-truss. The truss is subdivided into one large arching section over the main river channel and three smaller sections.
The bridge crosses the Allegheny River 12.7 miles from the Point, as well as crossing some railroad tracks on the north side of the river. The segment of the river it crosses is between dams #2 & #3.
The pool of the river where the Hulton bridge crosses has numerous boating and yacht clubs as well as public and private boat ramps. In good weather pleasure boats and water skiiers can be seen zipping under the bridge on a regular basis.
In the 70's State Rep. Joseph Bonetto tried to get a bridge built up stream, which would have taken traffic away from the Hulton bridge and been a financial disaster for Oakmont, which was not in his district. In 1989, the year of Oakmon't's centenial, friends of Bonetto snuck a declaration through the Pennsylvania legeslature renaming the bridge after the man. No one in Oakmont was aware of the renaming until plaques were mounted on the bridge. Locals were justifiably annoyed that the bridge had been named after a man that tried to render the structure worthless. The plaques were mysteriously removed, then replaced by the state, a number of times. Soon, prominent signs were posted declaring the bridge to be the "Jonathan Hulton" bridge, indicating that it was named in memory of an early resident (and by custom, not eligible for re-naming).
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