Pittsburgh fire Chief Darryl Jones said that three people were transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries following the collapse just before 7 a.m. of the bridge that elevates Forbes Ave. over Frick Park, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
Those three were listed in fair condition at UPMC Presbyterian at about 9:30 a.m., the hospital said in a statement to the paper. No fatalities have been reported.
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said the city had been “fortunate” as there were no fatalities, according to the outlet.
“There was a boom, then a monster sound,” Melissa Bakth, who heard the collapse at her home nearby, told the paper. “It was so loud, and it didn’t stop. It could’ve been me. I’m on that bridge every day. It’s very, very busy.”
“We’re just going to continue to hope for the best and make sure that we get this together,” continued Gainey. “We know we have bridges we need to take care of. With [ President Biden] coming today to talk about this infrastructure bill, to discuss why this funding is so important, today is significant.”
The president, during his visit, planned to highlight the $1 trillion bill recently passed to fund repair and maintenance of physical infrastructure across the country.
“@POTUS is grateful to the first responders who rushed to assist the drivers who were on the bridge at the time,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki tweeted Friday, noting the president would still visit as scheduled “and will stay in touch with officials on the ground about additional assistance we can provide.”
Among those affected by the collapse were a Port Authority bus driver and two passengers, all of whom escaped unharmed from the vehicle trapped beneath the remains of the bridge, which Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald dubbed “a major artery” as it connects multiple neighborhoods with Downtown Pittsburgh and eastern suburbs.
The National Bridge Inventory rated as being in poor condition between 2011 and 2017. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation echoed that finding at the end of 2021 and notes the county houses the majority of the state’s poorly maintained bridges, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Though the leak necessitated the evacuation of multiple local families, they’ve been able to return to their homes, Jones told the Post-Gazette.
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