Delivery of 7 remaining Fern Hollow Bridge beams begins Thursday

Delivery of the last of the beams needed to rebuild the Fern Hollow Bridge will begin Thursday, shutting down a Parkway East ramp and several Regent Square side streets during delivery times.

Fourteen beams have already been delivered to the Squirrel Hill side of the bridge.

The bridge, part of Forbes Avenue over Frick Park, collapsed about 6:40 a.m. Jan. 28, sending a Port Authority bus and several cars tumbling more than 100 feet into the ravine below.

Construction of the new span began in earnest in May.

Two of the final seven pre-stressed concrete I-beams will leave PennStress in Roaring Spring about 7 a.m. Thursday. They’ll arrive about three hours later after a 90-mile journey through Blair, Cambria, Indiana and Westmoreland counties.

There will be rolling closures as the truck transporting the 100-ton beams makes its way to South Braddock Avenue:

• The ramps from West Swissvale Avenue and northbound South Braddock Avenue to the inbound Parkway East
• The ramp from southbound Braddock Avenue to the inbound Parkway East
• South Braddock Avenue in both directions between the I-376 interchange and Forbes Avenue
• Some side streets off of South Braddock Avenue

Police will escort the vehicles on South Braddock Avenue and shut down the streets as needed.

PennDOT spokesman Steve Cowan said the closures are expected to take less than 30 minutes.

Two beams are set to be delivered Thursday, Friday and Monday. One beam will be delivered Tuesday.

Each beam is about 150 feet long, eight feet high and four feet wide. PennDOT is overseeing the design and construction, and the city will take control once the bridge is finished.