On today’s episode of The Confluence: We get the latest from WESA reporter Sarah Schneider about the Fern Hollow Bridge, which collapsed into Frick Park Friday morning; Governor Tom Wolf will submit his final budget — how do state finances look heading into this process?; and a look back at the career of retiring U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer from the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Law dean, who interacted with Breyer while clerking for the high court.
Fern Hollow Bridge investigation is underway, motorists are using alternative routes
(0:00 - 5:11)
A National Transportation Safety Board investigation is underway into the collapse Friday morning of the Fern Hollow Bridge, which carries Forbes Avenue over Frick Park. Officials say finding out why it happened could take up to 18 months.
“On Saturday I saw the bridge and it’s really hard to believe what you’re seeing when you’re there,” says WESA reporter Sarah Schneider. “It’s as if the bridge fell down, through the snow, into this ravine, and it's just this crumbled pile.”
About 14,000 cars travel over the Fern Hollow Bridge daily, along with two port authority bus routes that run approximately 200 trips a day. Port Authority buses and school buses are now establishing alternative routes.
The NTSB has said it will release a report in 10 days, but the bulk of the investigation will happen off-site, and is predicted to take about 18 months.
“The NTSB Board Chair Jennifer Homendy noted that the country is in crisis when it comes to transportation infrastructure,” says Schneider. “She noted that in Pennsylvania, 53% of our thousands of bridges are rated ‘fair’ [condition] and almost 15% are rated ‘poor,’ and she said, now’s the time that we really have to make an investment.”
Mayor Ed Gainey is signing a Declaration of Disaster Emergency to increase the availability of federal funds, and support coordination between the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and city Department of Mobility and Infrastructure.
“I think we’re waiting to hear what this’ll mean for Pittsburghers,” says Schneider. “There are a lot of bridges here, and the people that I spoke to are concerned about how often those bridges are inspected.”
As Gov. Tom Wolf prepares his final budget, state faces $8 billion dollar budget windfall
(5:16 - 11:18)
Gov. Tom Wolf proposes the final budget of his administration next Tuesday, Feb. 8. The state has a windfall of roughly $8 billion dollars, but Republican lawmakers are advocating that the excess money not be spent all at once. Wolf has said he agrees.
“It’s a lot of money by any stretch,” says WESA’s capital bureau chief Sam Dunklau, explaining that about $6 billion comes from last year’s federal American Rescue Plan, while the remaining money comes from higher than anticipated state tax revenue. “All of that together is one big pile of money that state lawmakers now sort of have to sift through in the upcoming budget.”
The federal money must be spent by 2024, and it comes with restrictions from the U.S. Treasury.
“With this much money in the bank, we need to be pushing it out to communities in the commonwealth,” Dunklau says this is what Democrats are advocating.
State Sen. Pat Browne (R-Lehigh), the Republican budget chief, told Dunklau “we can’t confuse what cash is in the bank as opposed to what our budgetary balances are.”
Dunklau says as the state heads into budgetary hearings, how smoothly the process goes will depend on the legislators, but with a big election season coming up, they might want to, “get a big essential task like budget making done.”
Pitt Law School Dean Amy Wildermuth, and former Supreme Court clerk, recalls interactions with Justice Stephen Breyer
(11:26 - 22:30)
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer has announced he will retire after more than 27 years on the bench. This gives President Joe Biden his first opportunity to make an appointment to the high court.
When Justice Breyer did not retire at the end of the last session, last summer, some Democrats were imploring him to step down while Biden is president, and while Democrats have a razor thin margin in the Senate. Breyer rejected those calls at the time,
“He has always had in mind what he wants to do and how he wants to do it,” explains University of Pittsburgh School of Law dean Amy Wildermuth. “He wants to be sure that he does not go down in history as another one of those liberal justices that did not take the opportunity when he had it to secure, if you will, a seat for a democratic president.”
Wildermuth spent time with Breyer during her tenure as a law clerk with then-Justice John Paul Stevens. She says Breyer has always been a practical dealmaker.
“He didn’t think they had to have all of the answers right now for every possible case, but you set forth the test, and then you refine it over time,” says Wildermuth. “That’s the real tradition of the common law coming through, and I think you see that in his opinions.”
Biden has not yet announced his nominee to replace Breyer, but has said he will nominate the first Black woman to the Supreme Court. He is expected to name that person by the end of February.
The Confluence, where the news comes together, is 90.5 WESA’s daily news program. Tune in Monday to Thursday at 9 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. to hear newsmakers and innovators take an in-depth look at stories important to the Pittsburgh region. Find more episodes of The Confluence here or wherever you get your podcasts.
