Pittsburgh City Council pushed forward a Gainey administration plan to assess every city-owned bridge Wednesday. Members preliminarily approved a $1.5 million dollar contract with a global engineering consultant and measures to financially support a new bridge management project with federal coronavirus aid.
Council is expected to take a final vote Tuesday before members recess for a month.
Once passed, WSP Global will be tasked with inspecting all 150 bridges and creating a plan to repair and manage them. The firm will also study and make suggestions to improve the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure’s current bridge repair plan and develop a new bridge maintenance division.
Mayor Ed Gainey first announced the project in May amid concerns about the safety of the Swindell Bridge over the Parkway North. That bridge remains closed while crews work to repair its drain trough and remove any remaining debris. Earlier this year, the Fern Hollow Bridge in the city’s East End collapsed mere hours before the busy morning rush.
The proposed contract with WSP Global is slated to last two years. Gainey said in May he expects to have a report from the bridge maintenance program about city-owned bridges by October.
Some council members argued there are bridges in Pittsburgh that may need to be addressed sooner.
“We probably know, with our own expertise and the assessments that have been done previously, the top 10 that need to be done immediately,” Councilor Erika Strassburger said, adding that council should use its resources to repair known problem bridges.
The use of federal coronavirus aid to repair bridges and carry out other infrastructure projects is prohibited by the U.S. Treasury Department.
According to Deputy Mayor Jake Pawlak, the coronavirus aid can be used to support the study because the money won’t directly fund repairs or construct new bridges. “It’s going to professional services to help us get a clearer picture of the needs of our assets,” he said.
At a standing committee meeting Wednesday, Pawlak said the project would put the city at an advantage for when the federal government releases money from the bipartisan infrastructure bill.
“It’s really building the systems necessary to really manage what will be potentially and unprecedentedly large amount of infrastructure funding into future,” Pawlak said Wednesday.
Council also moved to add $1 million in federal aid into a trust fund to support future needs for the project.
Strassburger suggested the city consider staffing its own engineers to keep an eye on bridges and manage repairs. Other council members agreed. Councilor Deb Gross said the need to assess each bridge is a massive undertaking that could be completed by city staff and third party companies.
“I’m also very eager for us to hire more engineering capacity in house,” said Gross. “We have a lot of bridges… even if we did hire our own engineers in house right now, it would just take too long… let’s do both.”
Council unanimously affirmed the bills to approve the contract and establish the trust fund Wednesday. Members will take a final vote next week.
