Mayor Gainey says Pittsburgh will reinspect all city-owned bridges in poor condition

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said Tuesday that the city will work with PennDOT to reinspect every city-owned bridge that is rated in poor condition.

“If any of those bridges are deemed unsafe to travel on, they will be closed immediately,” Gainey said during a news conference at the site of the city’s collapsed Fern Hollow Bridge.

If a bridge needs to be closed, Gainey said the city would work to quickly repair or replace the structure.

“We want to make sure that none of us wakes up to this again,” he said, referring to the bridge collapse that injured 10 people in January. “We all understand how critical this is.”

City Councilman Corey O’Connor said local officials now need to “build back confidence” in the city’s infrastructure.

Related:

Fern Hollow Bridge construction expected to begin in April
Pittsburgh City Council approves $2.5M in repairs for 30th Street Bridge

State Rep. Joanna McClinton of Philadelphia, the Democratic leader in the state House, said the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse reverberated around the state and demonstrated the need for additional infrastructure investments.

“It’s very crucial that, now more than ever, we take our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges very seriously,” she said.

President Biden’s infrastructure funding plan will allow Pennsylvania to allocate more money to infrastructure, she said, but that still won’t be enough to address all of Pennsylvania’s infrastructure needs.

Mayor Ed Gainey — Press Conference — March 8, 2022 https://t.co/Q5i4M6NWdt

— Mayor Ed Gainey (@MayorEdGainey) March 8, 2022

For Pittsburgh, Gainey said, the first step in improving infrastructure — and reestablishing the public’s trust in it — is to rebuild the Fern Hollow Bridge and reinspect other potentially problematic bridges. He said 22 city-owned bridges ranked in poor condition would be reinspected.

“We won’t hesitate to shut them down” if bridges aren’t safe for traffic, he said.

This comes as Pittsburgh City Council has approved three related measures meant to better assess infrastructure needs and fund infrastructure repairs in the wake of the bridge collapse. Council is also considering a measure that would add a 1% tax for students paying for college or individuals receiving care at hospitals and other medical facilities. The money collected from the tax would be put into a trust fund earmarked for infrastructure needs.

Gainey declined to comment on the proposed tax, saying he had not yet reviewed the legislation.

The mayor’s news conference came as PennDOT officials announced Tuesday that construction of a new bridge to replace the one that collapsed is scheduled to begin in April. It will be funded with American Rescue Plan money.