This article was updated at 9 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022.
With the Fern Hollow Bridge construction site as his backdrop, President Joe Biden on Thursday touted the good he said the bipartisan infrastructure bill has done across the state and country.
Mr. Biden, who was visiting the city for the second time in six weeks, made a stop at a Moon restaurant before heading for the Fern Hollow bridge site.
Just shy of nine months since the bridge collapsed into Frick Park below, Mr. Biden pointed to the speed at which the rebuild has happened and said the $1 trillion infrastructure bill passed by Congress in November allowed that to happen.
“It’s being done in record time,” Mr. Biden said. “It normally takes two-to-five years to build a bridge like this, and the total project cost $25 million — fully paid for by the federal government.”
The result, he said, is a bridge that will be traversable “by Christmas, God willing.
“I’m coming back to walk across this sucker,” he said.
The bridge, which carries Forbes Avenue over Frick Park and links Squirrel Hill to Regent Square, collapsed Jan. 28. The collapse happened about 6:40 a.m., and it sent a Port Authority articulated bus and several cars tumbling more than 100 feet to the park below.
Ten people were injured in the crash, several of whom have said they intend to file lawsuits related to the collapse.
“This really matters,” he said. “Folks in this neighborhood relied on the bridge and the walking path underneath to commute to work, to take their kids to school, to run errands — to stay connected to other neighborhoods like Squirrel Hill, the Waterfront and Oakland.”
Mr. Biden was in town the day the bridge collapsed as well — a prescheduled visit to talk infrastructure funding.
“Pittsburgh is the city of bridges, but too many are in poor condition like this one behind me was before the collapse,” Mr. Biden said, noting the roughly 3,100 bridges and 7,500 miles of highway in poor condition across the state.
He said 2,400 bridges nationwide are being repaired this year, but stressed that the infrastructure bill is about more than just bridges. He noted that $850 million will go toward replacing and expanding the Montgomery Locks and Dam capacity by 50%. Other money will go toward electric vehicle charging stations, the new Pittsburgh International Airport terminal, and capping and reclaiming uncapped wells and mines.
Mr. Biden’s visit comes at a fraught time for his party, as Democrats are racing to convince the country that their accomplishments during two years in control of Congress and the White House warrant the support of voters just weeks before a key election in which Republicans are poised to take control of at least the House and potentially the Senate as well.
“Instead of ‘infrastructure week,’ which was a punchline for four years under my predecessor, it’s ‘infrastructure decade’ — a headline on my watch,” Mr. Biden said.
“For too long, we talked about building the best economy in the world and the best infrastructure in the world,” he said. “We talked about the safest roads, railroads, ports, airports and more. But now … we’re finally getting to it. We’re finally getting it done.”
Mr. Biden was joined on his visit by several Democrat politicians, including U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman, who then joined Mr. Biden in Philadelphia later Thursday evening at a fundraising event.
Speaking at the Philly fundraiser, Mr. Biden sounded the alarm about what he viewed as the urgency of the moment, saying Republicans are trying to roll back access to abortion and raise the price of prescription drugs.
“If we do not maintain the Senate and the House in this next election, a lot is going to change,” Mr. Biden said, lacing into “MAGA Republicans” who, he warned, would get rid of Medicare and Social Security.
Mr. Biden also seized on comments by some GOP lawmakers, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, casting doubt on the U.S. commitment to help Ukraine fend off Russia's invasion of its territory.
“They said that if they win they’re not likely to fund, to continue to fund Ukraine," Mr. Biden said. “These guys don’t get it. It’s a lot bigger than Ukraine. It’s Eastern Europe. It’s NATO. It’s really serious, serious, consequential outcomes.”
He added: “The rest of the world is looking at this election as well. Both the good guys and the bad guys out there — to see what’s going to happen. We’ve got to win. John’s got to win.”
For his part, Mr. Fetterman said that he wants to be the 51st vote in the Senate and to give Democrats the power to eliminate the filibuster, raise the minimum wage and protect abortion rights that were lost when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June.
Mr. Fetterman also addressed his health, accusing Republican opponent Mehmet Oz of rooting against his recovery from the stroke and mocking him for moving from New Jersey to Pennsylvania to run for office.
“In January, I’ll be feeling much better, but Dr. Oz will still be a fraud,” Mr. Fetterman said.
Megan Guza: mguza@post-gazette.com. The Associated Press and The New York Times contributed.
First Published: October 20, 2022, 7:12 p.m.
Updated: October 21, 2022, 3:29 p.m.