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Workers prepare a Port Authority bus to be lifted by crane out of the wreckage of the collapsed Fern Hollow Bridge on Jan. 31, 2022.
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The Fern Hollow Bridge collapse highlights problems with 'uncoated weathering steel,' feds warn

Alexandra Wimley/Post-Gazette

The Fern Hollow Bridge collapse highlights problems with 'uncoated weathering steel,' feds warn

During periods of dryness, the steel forms protective oxide coating. But debris, dirt and leaves prevented proper drainage on the Fern Hollow Bridge.

WASHINGTON — Federal investigators on Thursday urged state and federal transportation officials to review bridge inspection reports and identify possible remedies for deteriorating spans similar to the Fern Hollow Bridge in Pittsburgh, which collapsed 16 months ago.

The National Transportation Safety Board said the Federal Highway Administration should develop procedures for bridge owners to correct problems on spans made of what’s called “uncoated weathering steel.”

The recommendations were released as the safety board continues to investigate the Jan. 28, 2022 collapse of the 447-foot-long bridge, which came just hours before President Joe Biden visited Pittsburgh to talk about infrastructure.

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Mr. Biden’s bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure law includes about $13.2 billion in federal funding for Pennsylvania’s roads and bridges over five years.

The Swindell Bridge on July 1, 2022, after debris fell from the bridge onto I-279 in Pittsburgh.
Mike Wereschagin
There’s been almost no progress fixing Pittsburgh-owned bridges a year after Fern Hollow collapsed

No one was killed, but 10 people were hurt and a natural gas main was sheared on the Squirrel Hill side of the span, which carries Forbes Avenue over Frick Park.

“We’ve got to get on with it. We’ve got to move,” Mr. Biden said during his visit shortly after, as he discussed the need to repair the nation’s decaying bridges. “We don’t need headlines saying that someone was killed when the next bridge collapses.”

The old Fern Hollow Bridge, built over 14 months in 1972 and 1973, replaced a 70-year-old span that was closed because it had deteriorated to the point where it no longer was safe. The structure that collapsed early last year was honored in 1974 as one of the country's best new bridges by the American Institute of Steel Construction. Local officials celebrated the construction of a new Fern Hollow Bridge late last year.

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The Post-Gazette reported earlier this year that almost no progress was made in fixing Pittsburgh-owned bridges in the year after Fern Hollow collapsed. Not one of dozens of decaying city-owned spans rated in poor condition by Mayor Ed Gainey’s administration was scheduled to begin rehabilitation in 2023, according to a review of public records. 

The recommendation Thursday addresses all bridges made of uncoated weathering steel. During periods of dryness, the steel forms protective oxide coating. But debris, dirt and leaves prevented proper drainage on the Fern Hollow Bridge and stopped that coating from forming, the NTSB said. 

In fact, the agency said, corrosion was so severe that there were holes in the structure, and all four legs showed deterioration.

While drainage problems were identified during earlier inspections of the bridge, regular maintenance wasn’t performed to correct the deficiencies, the safety board said. Similar problems were found on other bridges in the state, the NTSB said.

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey holds up a copy of the Comprehensive Bridge Asset Management Program, which was a structural and safety audit of the city's 100 vehicular and 47 pedestrian bridges.
Hallie Lauer
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey sent a representative to a bridge funding meeting after a year of mostly no-shows

A final report on the bridge collapse, including its likely cause and recommendations to prevent similar incidents, will be issued in the coming months.

The state has 3,353 bridges and more than 7,540 miles of highway in poor condition, according to the White House.

Mr. Biden returned to Pittsburgh last October to again tout his infrastructure law.

“Pittsburgh is the city of bridges,” he said, “but too many are in poor condition like this one behind me was before the collapse.”

Jonathan D. Salant: jsalant@post-gazette.com, @JDSalant 

First Published: May 18, 2023, 4:48 p.m.

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Workers prepare a Port Authority bus to be lifted by crane out of the wreckage of the collapsed Fern Hollow Bridge on Jan. 31, 2022.  (Alexandra Wimley/Post-Gazette)
First responders at the scene of the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse on Jan. 28, 2022.  (Pittsburgh Public Safety Department)
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