Public input on rebuild of Fern Hollow Bridge will be limited, officials say

Work continues on the rebuild of the Fern Hollow Bridge, as Pittsburgh and community leaders gave an update Thursday night at a virtual townhall meeting Thursday to discuss wants, needs and the progress of the project.

Pittsburgh Deputy Mayor Jake Pawlak cautioned residents that the urgent nature of the rebuild and the need for a swift resolution mean that public input and feedback will be limited.

“We have attempted to move as expeditiously as possible in rebuilding the bridge and utility connections across the Fern Hollow valley so that our first and foremost responsibility to the public — which is the delivery of safe and healthy living conditions — is restored,” Pawlak said during the virtual meeting.

“That does come with a necessary tradeoff,” he warned, “which is that the normal procedures, both publicly consultative and legal, that we would normally deploy in a bridge reconstruction or restoration project had to be expedited.”

When the governor and mayor both issued emergency declarations regarding the Jan. 28 bridge collapse, it meant that some normal aspects of design review and public consultation would be waived.

“That was not an easy decision,” Pawlak said, noting that under normal circumstances, the city and the firm charged with construction would seek out public input.

“Because Fern Hollow collapsed,” he said, “we had to shorten or eliminate procedures.”

He said that many types of design considerations, specifically lane reduction or realignment, require a traffic study be conducted before those considerations can be put forward.

“We’re not in a position to do that because we’re not in a position to conduct a traffic study across a bridge that doesn’t exist,” he said.

In terms of actual work on the bridge, Eric Setzler, chief engineer for the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure, said things are progressing. Crews from PennDOT, which is overseeing the project, have drilled and put into place the caissons, which anchor the bridge under the ground surface.

“Our first two months were really focusing hard on getting the structure designed,” Setzler said. “We need that designed so we can get the materials procured and start construction.”

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.

The meeting came the same day that Mayor Ed Gainey outlined plans to investigate the city’s infrastructure needs and make provisions for the repair and upkeep of bridges.

The city launched a request for proposals Thursday to find experts to lead the program.

The bridge asset management team will be tasked with reviewing current bridge conditions and sending the mayor a report on their findings by October, Gainey said.

They also will develop a list of immediate, near-term bridge repairs that need to be made, including those that the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure have already identified as in need of repairs, and any additional bridges the team feels need attention.

On Thursday, the National Transportation Safety Board released new photos from the collapse, including some captured by cameras on the Port Authority bus.

A photo captured by one of the bus cameras and released by the investigatory panel shows the bridge deck beginning to separate at the east expansion joint on the side of the bridge in Point Breeze and leading into Regent Square.

A second photo from a bus camera shows the west end of the bridge on the Squirrel Hill side falling off the west abutment at about the same time.