PennDOT inspects Fort Duquesne Bridge
Pieces of concrete fall on North Shore
The fall of two small chunks from the Fort Duquesne Bridge onto the North Shore this week wasn’t a big surprise because the state Department of Transportation has had crews working on the underside of the structure the past two summers to repair concrete areas deteriorating with age.
But the incident highlights continuing problems with key bridges in the area, many of which were built around the same time and are all close to needing major upgrades, said Lou Ruzzi, PennDOT’s bridge engineer for Allegheny, Beaver and Lawrence counties, on Wednesday.
Chunks 6 to 8 inches in diameter fell to the ground Tuesday at the intersection of Tony Dorsett Way and North Shore Drive and at Reedsdale Street, but no one was injured. The bridge had substantial work done to extend its life in 2008 and again the past two years.
“Every time we fix it, [the problem] seems to increase the next time,” Mr. Ruzzi said Wednesday. “It just becomes a never-ending problem.”
Mr. Ruzzi said the material falling from the bridge is surface concrete that covers reinforcement bars and doesn’t effect the integrity of the structure, which he said is in “fair” condition. The 2,500foot-long bridge runs from Point State Park, Downtown, across the Allegheny River as a double-deck bridge to the North Shore, where it splits to ramps for Route 65 and Interstate 279.
“What usually is falling is the 2 to 2½ inches of concrete over the rebar,” Mr. Ruzzi said. “It really doesn’t affect the integrity of the concrete. It’s in fair condition.”
Most of the bridge is original construction from 1962, when it was known as “the bridge to nowhere” because it stopped just before it reached the North Shore, or the late 1960s when a ramp was built to join it with the existing road system. At that time, concrete was expected to last 40 to 45 years, which means the bridge deck is beyond its normal life cycle.
After Tuesday’s incident, PennDOT inspectors immediately reviewed the bridge to determine whether other material was in danger of falling. Additional inspections will be conducted next week and regular inspections will be changed from every two years
to at least every year, Mr. Ruzzi said.
“We’ll ‘sound around’ with hammers, and if we find anything small that’s loose, we’ll [knock it off] right there,” Mr. Ruzzi said. “If we find anything more extensive, we’ll bring in the jackhammers later.”
Much of the inspection work will be done during non-rush hours to hold down the effect on the 73,000 motorists who use the bridge every day. Mr. Ruzzi said he doesn’t expect the agency to install netting under the bridge to catch debris because netting “deteriorates and has its own problems.”
The agency’s goal is to replace the bridge’s deck within the next 10 years, but Mr. Ruzzi and District Executive Cheryl Moon-Sirianni said that is a dependent on funding for projects on interstate highways, which totals about $450 million across the state. The agency’s most recent estimate to replace the bridge deck is $125 million, putting it in direct competition for funding with other major projects such as the Commercial Street and Frazier Street bridges on the Parkway East that are projected to cost $120 million each, among other projects in the region and across the state.
In addition, Ms. MoonSirianni said such major projects usually involve the agency doing several years of upgrades on the roads that will be used as alternate routes while the interstate is closed or restricted.
“On all of these bridges, there is a huge impact on traffic,” she said. “Millions are spent on the other roads before we can start that work on the interstates.”
President Donald Trump met with Democratic leaders this week to discuss the framework for a $2 trillion national infrastructure program that would include roads and bridges, but they won’t talk about how to pay for it for another three weeks.