Pittsburgh bridge collapse - Biden delivers infrastructure remarks and promises to ‘fix them all’

Former CBS White House correspondent notes that this is President Joe Biden’s 13th visit to Pennsylvania in the year since he took office.

The state flipped to the Democrats in the 2020 election by a narrow margin.

Pennsylvania’s Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman says the bridge collapse shows that President Joe Biden is “ahead of the curve” on infrastructure.

“We will have the resources available because of the infrastructure bill passed under his watch.”

Daryl Luciani, who was driving the articulated bus seen in many of the photos of today’s disaster, says he feels “banged up” and is getting checked out at a hospital.

He is otherwise in good spirits following this morning’s bridge collapse.

Pittsburgh’s Post-Gazette has gathered witness accounts of the bridge collapse.

“There was a boom, then a monster sound,” Melissa Bakth, who lives near Frick Park said. “It was so loud, and it didn’t stop. It could’ve been me. I’m on that bridge every day. It’s very, very busy.”

John Jacobs, of Squirrel Hill, said he walks his two dogs in the park beneath the bridge every morning.

“It’s funny Biden’s in town on the infrastructure bill,” Mr. Jacobs said. “What a coincidence.”

Robert Randozzo, the manager of Frick Park Automotive, was unlocking the door to the nearby shop when he heard the roar of the gas line that ruptured.

“As I unlocked the front door, the wave of natural gas hit the building,” he said. “A heavy, heavy smell.”

Jay Duque-Chavez, who lives in nearby Squirrel Hill, told the Post-Gazette: “I ride this every day with my 6-year-old daughter to her grandma’s.”

“It’s remarkable — I never imagined this thing would collapse. Now it’s like, the outlook on life around this is going to be different going forward — going over, going underneath. I was driving just yesterday around 8.30, then less than 24 hours, you go back to see this.

“You just never know timing,” he added. “Timing and luck.”

The Forbes Avenue Bridge over Fern Hollow won a design award when completed in 1973.

Jurors for the American Institute of Steel Construction said: “This very handsome bridge blends well into its rustic setting. The sloping piers and their relationship to the hillsides give the entire structure a sense of logic and beauty.”

Since then, neglect of the bridge appears to have led to the steel supports rusting through over time.

The 470 feet long bridge was owned by the city of Pittsburgh and carried some 14,000 vehicles a day.

The Post Gazette reports:

In a statement, Port Authority said the bus that became trapped — the 61B Braddock-Swissvale — was headed outbound on the bridge at about 6:45 a.m. and had nearly reached the east side of the bridge when it collapsed.

Mr Brandolph said the bus initially slid backward at about a 45-degree angle, but it stopped when its rear got caught on part of the rubble. Emergency crews were then able to rescue the driver and the two passengers.

Port Authority initially said the bus driver and the two passengers onboard escaped without injury, but Chief Jones said two of those three people were among the 10 injured.

Later Friday morning, Mr Brandolph clarified that one of the two passengers left the scene of the collapse and got on another bus. About two hours after the collapse, that person complained of injuries and was taken to the hospital.

Mr Brandolph added that the bus is considered a complete loss and the agency doesn’t know when it may be able to remove it.

President Joe Biden has visited the site of the bridge collapse in Pittsburgh, just a few miles away from where he will soon give a speech on repairing the nation’s infrastructure.

“I’ve been coming to Pittsburgh a long time, as a former Pennsylvanian, but I didn’t realize they’re literally more bridges in Pittsburgh than any other city in the world. More than Venice,” President Biden said at site of the collapsed bridge. “We’re going to fix them all. Not a joke.”