3 Pittsburgh bridges in urgent need of work not addressed for months

Pittsburgh officials waited months to address structural problems on three bridges that experts said needed to be addressed within a week, according to a spokeswoman for Mayor Ed Gainey.

Gainey released a comprehensive report on the condition of 147 city-maintained bridges in December. The collapse of the former Fern Hollow Bridge spurred the mayor to commission the $1.5 million report by WSP USA, an international company with expertise in transportation and infrastructure.

The report revealed 13 bridges had structural problems so serious that WSP USA said they should be addressed within a week. The problems were identified in inspections conducted in the second half of last year, after the city had hired WSP USA.

The administration did not immediately identify those bridges to the public, news media or members of City Council.

Maria Montaño, a spokeswoman for Gainey, and the mayor himself declined repeated requests from the Tribune-Review between December and early February to reveal which bridges were identified as needing immediate structural repairs.

The administration identified the bridges last week. All of them are referred to in the report as “priority zeros.”

“Some priority zeros are more severe than other priority zeros,” Montaño said. “Not every priority zero is in danger of imminent failure.”

Three bridges that WSP USA said in the December report should be addressed within seven days had yet to be addressed as of Tuesday when the administration identified the 13 “priority zero” bridges publicly, Montaño said.

One of those three bridges, the Elizabeth Street Bridge in Hazelwood, had “deteriorated SIP (stay-in-place) forms hanging down over live traffic.” Montaño said the city had planned to address the issue in tandem with other repairs on the span, which caused the delay.

Montaño said work on that span was completed Friday.

The bridge report recommended that Maple Avenue’s northeast pedestrian ramp on the North Side should be closed immediately until repairs could be completed there. The severe spalling — or breaking — of the retaining wall and walking surface there “have caused loss of support and anchorage for one of the pedestrian railing posts,” according to the report.

Montaño said Department of Public Works crews closed the pedestrian ramp last week and cleared an alternate path.

The report also highlighted immediate concerns at a parking lot bridge at Woodruff Street and Saw Mill Run Boulevard in Beechview.

Experts said spalling at a portion of that bridge was in need of attention within a week. WSP USA identified the problem Oct. 31.

“This is a concern because this entire section could let loose and fall directly onto/into live traffic,” experts wrote in a portion of the report given to the Tribune-Review early last week.

Montaño said crews will need to remove some of the concrete at that section of the bridge. The city is hoping to begin repairs late next week, she said.

Immediate concerns with the other 10 “priority zero” bridges in the report were addressed before the report came out in December. Fixes included repairing a median barrier on the Bloomfield Bridge, repairing a heavily damaged light pole on Herron Avenue Bridge and removing loose concrete on the underside of the deck at what’s known as the Ramp Q bridge.

Montaño said the Ramp Q bridge goes over Interstate 279 North between Madison Avenue and East Street on the North Side.

Shadyside’s South Negley Avenue Bridge and Herron Avenue Bridge between Polish Hill and Lawrenceville each had two structural issues.

The city did some work on South Negley Avenue Bridge to address “potentially compromised abutments,” which had been supported by wooden posts under the bridge. Experts in the report said the timber supports “are not supporting much.”

Residents had voiced concerns about those supports last March, though the mayor said the span was safe. The sidewalk was closed in November for necessary repairs.

The repairs made to those spans do not mean the bridges are now in perfect condition. Some of the spans on the list — like South Negley and the Swinburne Bridge connecting South Oakland and Greenfield — are slated for much larger rehabilitation projects in the future.

City Councilman Anthony Coghill, who represents the district where the bridge at Woodruff and Saw Mill Run is located, said the administration did not share with his office that the span was identified as a “priority zero” bridge. He was one of several council members who said they did not get any more information than the media and public when the bridge report was released in December.

“Especially considering one of those bridges is in our district, they should have shared that,” Coghill said.

The three spans that waited months for work that was recommended to be done within a week did not receive additional inspections during the wait, Montaño said.

Montaño said the city is in the process of hiring staff for the new bridge maintenance division. Once that team is assembled, she said, repairs will be done “in-house much more quickly and efficiently.”

All of the city’s 147 bridges now receive “routine inspections on a regular basis,” Montaño said, and bridges that are in need of serious rehabilitation receive more frequent inspections.

Montaño said that just because a bridge is rated in poor condition “doesn’t necessarily mean it’s in danger,” and said she wanted to assure the public that city officials will close spans that are unsafe.

“After Fern Hollow, we moved very quickly to put together this program that allows us to better understand … the condition of all the bridges the city is responsible for right now,” Montaño said. “At that point in time, our bridges were in no fear of needing to be closed. Because of that report, it’s led us to find out when those conditions have changed.”

The city this month closed Charles Anderson Memorial Bridge because of safety concerns.

“Closing Charles Anderson was the right decision, and we wouldn’t hesitate to do that as soon as we find out about other instances in our city,” Montaño said.