Pittsburgh officials look to expedite $48M rehab of Charles Anderson Memorial Bridge

Pittsburgh officials say they want to expedite a large-scale rehabilitation of the Charles Anderson Bridge after the span was closed in February because of safety concerns.

When officials closed the bridge, they initially said the city would make necessary repairs over the course of about four months, with an estimated cost of between $1 and $2 million. At the time, the bridge already had been slated for a larger $48 million rehabilitation but remained in the design phase.

Kim Lucas, director of the city’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure, said Wednesday that the city instead has decided to expedite the larger project rather than make a few quick fixes and then close the span again for a larger rehabilitation effort.

“We realized it would be more advantageous to the city to expedite the long-term rehabilitation project,” she said, explaining it would save money because taxpayers wouldn’t have to pay for temporary fixes while officials waited to begin the larger project.

Federal funding will be used for the larger project, she said.

Located in Schenley Park, the 780-foot-long bridge links Squirrel Hill and Greenfield to Downtown and Oakland. It is used by an average of more than 21,000 vehicles a day. PennDOT records list the bridge as being in poor condition and show it was weight-restricted, with a 32-ton limit for single vehicles and a combined weight limit of 40 tons.

Officials are hoping to address another nearby span, the Panther Hollow Overpass a couple of hundred yards away, at the same time as the Charles Anderson Memorial Bridge, said Eric Seltzer, who serves as DOMI’s chief engineer.

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Lucas said she could not provide a timeline for the work, but said money will be available to start rehabilitating Charles Anderson Memorial Bridge on the expedited timeline.

She said it will take longer than the rebuild of the Fern Hollow Bridge, which was replaced within a year of its collapse in January 2022 in the city’s Frick Park.

There is no emergency declaration allowing officials to cut through red tape to further expedite the Charles Anderson project as there had been for Fern Hollow, Lucas said. She said rehabilitating bridges is a lengthier, more complex process than simply replacing them, because crews can build a new bridge using many precast components.

Because of the historic nature of the Charles Anderson Memorial Bridge, which opened in 1938, officials wanted to rehabilitate it rather than tear it down and replace it.

“For Charles Anderson, we are committed within the typical process to accelerate things as fast as possible,” Seltzer said.