Pittsburgh Bridge Collapse: A Short Commentary

One week ago, a bridge collapsed in Pittsburgh. It was the same day that President Biden visited to speak about the Infrastructure Law that was enacted last year. A short commentary about that bridge failure:

• Constructed things (like bridges) have a designed lifetime but won’t last forever, even with repairs.
• Infrastructure investments are rarely convenient. Addressing an accident is even more expensive.
• While the collapsed bridge is down, costs keep piling up. Disrupted driving routes. Debris cleanup. Vehicle rescue. Environmental containment. DOT and contracted crews. Material and labor for rebuilding. Nearly all are mandatory and unavoidable – because the bridge broke.
• Some historical perspective – President Roosevelt’s New Deal built many of our roads and American landmarks. We’re thankful that they invested that money and made a strong foundation for our generation.
• If I were contributing to the Pittsburgh bridge team, I would focus on 3 aspects of the incident.
  • A. The photos show that snow and vehicle loads were pretty small, probably well within the bridge’s weight rating. They also show that major failures appear to have occurred at distinct joints located at key foundational supports.
  • B. To find clues to the root cause(s), forensic investigators should especially look for crumbling concrete and broken bolts near those locations. Then investigators should inspect similar bridges that could easily have similar risks. Learn from the past to improve the future.
  • C. The PennDOT team planning reconstruction should evaluate building the replacement bridge with four modernizing features:
    • concrete that has CO2 embedded inside,
    • bike paths,
    • a roof covered in solar panels,
    • and conduit for electrical cables to boost grid capacity and resilience.

Those are great ways to rebuild better and make it a more valuable community asset.

Credit to NYT and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for photos.