Bridge cleanup efforts, NTSB investigation ramp up
PITTSBURGH — Frick Park will remain closed until further notice, city officials announced Saturday morning, as government inspectors begin to determine what caused the bridge carrying Forbes Avenue over the park to collapse early Friday.
Though the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation announced the closure of all trails and woods around 10 a.m., there were still people strolling through the park beforehand, particularly close to the site of the Fern Hollow Bridge wreckage, where crews were beginning clean-up work.
The actual crash site hadn’t changed much in the day that had passed since the bridge collapsed into the ravine just before 7 a.m. Friday. Above the site, however, first responders and government officials had been replaced by cranes and recovery workers.
NTSB inspectors had started examine the crash site in Frick Park. NTSB officials are scheduled to hold a briefing at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Hotel Indigo in Oakland.
NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said Friday the agency’s investigation could last 18 months.
“Our role here will be to document the scene, to collect perishable evidence, to also gather inspection records, maintenance records, and then we’ll take that and eventually we’ll do some analysis on that information so that in the end we can issue recommendations to improve safety nationally, not just locally,” Homendy said Friday.
The federal agency is scheduled to discuss the case again late Saturday afternoon.
The bridge, built in the early 1970s, collapsed on a snowy morning, a coincidence that may have been helpful — Pittsburgh Public Schools were operating on a weather delay, holding down traffic levels. Ten people were injured in the collapse, and three were still at UPMC Presbyterian late Friday. No one suffered life-threatening injuries, officials said.
The bridge collapsed also on a day when President Joe Biden was scheduled to deliver remarks about the country’s infrastructure needs. Biden visited the site immediately upon arriving at the Allegheny County Airport. And with the bridge collapse clearly on his mind, he gave a short speech at Mill 19 in the Hazelwood Green business development before returning to Washington.
“We’ve got to get on with it. We’ve got to move,” Biden said during his remarks. “We don’t need headlines saying that someone was killed when the next bridge collapses.”