Just in time for Joe Biden to make a big speech about infrastructure in Pittsburgh, the Forbes Avenue bridge collapsed. Officials note that “at least four cars and a transit bus” were on crossing when it pancaked around 6 a.m., Friday morning. So far, 10 commuters were reported injured.
Heavily traveled bridge
The heavily traveled Forbes Avenue bridge which runs through Frick park, east of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, collapsed “just hours before President Biden was supposed to be in town to discuss infrastructure.” Reports note that “at least four cars and a transit bus” were on the span at the time of the collapse with another vehicle “spotted dangling near the edge.”
Jeremy Habowski feels “alive and lucky” after surviving the collapse. “There was a gap and my car was off the ground, so the scariest part was definitely over the edge.”
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey was quick to note that the “good thing at this point is that there are no fatalities.” He promises, “we’re going to pray there are no fatalities. We were fortunate.”
The Forbes Ave bridge over #frickpark in #pittsburgh collapsed at about 6am. Several vehicles and a bus on the bridge. No injuries reported yet. Strong smell of natural gas. Avoid the area #pittsburghbridgecollapse pic.twitter.com/ykkE4YjiiX
— Greg Barnhisel (@gbarnhisel) January 28, 2022
He admits that there were people hurt in the bridge collapse. “There were, however, at least 10 injuries,” Ganiney reports. “Three people were hospitalized.”
As of this time, there is no official statement about what caused the bridge to collapse but unofficial reports list “weight of the snow” as a cause.
As local residents are quick to point out, “What does say about some of the improvements that need to be done?” “We need it,” one city official replied to a reporter asking that question.
It’s surreal
One Pittsburgh native was astounded to see the destruction. “I’ve driven across this bridge thousands of times. It’s surreal, the entire span of the bridge has collapsed.” It didn’t take long for the state’s Lieutenant Governor to appear in a live stream from the scene of the disaster. Complicating things, there’s still a heavy odor of natural gas surrounding the entire area.
Joe Biden took the incident in stride and welcomed the distraction from things like the impending Russian invasion of Ukraine. “The president is grateful to the first responders who rushed to help the drivers who were on the bridge at the time,” the White House noted in a statement.
Greg Barnhisel tweeted out that there’s a “strong smell of natural gas. Avoid the area.” The reason for that is a natural gas line that runs beneath the deck structure of the bridge.
A bridge along Forbes Avenue near Frick Park in Pittsburgh has collapsed: https://t.co/ZKWYVJYY7V. President Biden has plans to visit this area today to discuss infrastructure. pic.twitter.com/FqucUUleeL
— Dr. Jeffrey Guterman (@JeffreyGuterman) January 28, 2022
Fire officials quickly got the gas lines shut down but there “are several reports of natural gas sickness in the area, and those people are being treated in the field.”
A spokesperson for PeoplesGas explains the gas distribution line “goes under the driveway and then under the bridge.” He made sure to emphasize “there is no evidence of a gas explosion before the collapse.”
There wasn’t much danger of that to start with because “it was not a high pressure gas line.” Customers can expect “minimal service interruptions.”
