Pittsburgh’s Fern Hollow Bridge is once again fully open.
City officials on Friday announced that the bridge has reopened to traffic, and Tranquil Trail below the bridge in Frick Park has also reopened. The span carries busy Forbes Avenue over Frick Park and Fern Hollow Creek.
After its stunning collapse early last year, the bridge reopened partially in December due to fast-tracked design and construction work, but to only two lanes of traffic. It closed again last month for four weeks to enable construction crews to finish milling and paving work, and installing an overlay on the bridge deck designed to extend the lifespan of the bridge. Today, the bridge is open to four lanes.
The original 447-foot-long span collapsed into Frick Park early on the morning of Jan. 28, 2022, taking a Pittsburgh Regional Transit bus and several cars with it. Nine people were injured in the collapse, but there were no fatalities, which numerous public officials described as miraculous.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation estimates that the bridge daily carried some 21,000 cars. The collapse occurred hours before a scheduled visit to Pittsburgh by President Joe Biden, who came to the city to deliver a speech about decaying U.S. infrastructure.
As Biden walked to the edge of the bridge and told local, state and federal officials, “We are going to fix them all," the bridge became a symbol of the nation's infrastructure needs.
The cause of the collapse remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, but in May the agency's findings caused it to call for examinations of more than 10,000 other bridges with similar construction around the country to ensure they don't have the same kind of corrosion that was found on the Fern Hollow Bridge.
The NTSB said drainage problems on the weathered steel bridge allowed its metal legs to deteriorate over time. It also determined Pennsylvania neglected for years to perform the maintenance needed to clear the debris, dirt and leaves that caused the problem, even though inspectors noted the issue.
