We saw pictures of Beijing’s “off the charts” air pollution yesterday. Hmmm, we thought. We’ve seen this before. Pittsburgh was once the smog champion. Here’s proof: a picture of the Wabash Bridge, shot at noon on what The Pittsburgh Press described as “one of the worst smog days in the city’s history.” A headline above this picture explained, “Not a moonlit scene nor a bad picture.”
The sun-blocking smoke is long gone. So is the Wabash Bridge. It was demolished in 1948.