This photo shows the City of Pittsburgh looking from north to south. Visible on the hillside across the river and above Carson Street are the North Portals of the Liberty Tunnels. The year is 1924, shortly after tunnel construction was completed. Work on the Liberty Bridge would begin the following year, in 1925, and would be completed in 1928.

Until then, motorists entering the city from the south, upon exiting the tunnels, would turn right onto McArdle Roadway, then left onto Arlington Avenue to Carson Street, then into town via the Smithfield Street Bridge. It was quite an improvement over the long trip over Coal Hill, but still a bottleneck on the north end. Construction of the Liberty Bridge would soon make the trip from the South Hills to downtown a breeze for motorists.

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* Photo from the Brady Stewart Collection *