TIMELY COLLAPSE OF PITTSBURGH BRIDGE

                                     ….Collapsed bridge on the East Side of Pittsburgh

    Ironic that bridge collapsed hours before President Biden's visit

 

    A bridge collapsed in Pittsburgh, just hours before President Joe Biden was set to travel to     the city to promote his infrastructure program.  Biden was set to deliver a speech touting the     $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law he signed into law last year.

    The package, which followed years of failed efforts by former President Donald Trump to         forge a similar agreement.  The program allocates $550 billion in new money for                     transportation, broadband and utilities projects.

    Three people were hospitalized from the collapse with non-life-threatening injuries, the             Pittsburgh Public Safety tweeted.

     A Port Authority bus was on a bridge when it collapsed.  The bus is visible in the above             picture.  The bridge is on Pittsburgh’s East End, and when the bridge collapsed, rescuers         had to rappel nearly 150 feet while others formed a human chain to help rescue multiple         people from the dangling bus.

    The bridge collapsed, just in hours before President Joe Biden was set to                travel to the city to promote his legislative agenda.  Pittsburgh Public Safety            confirmed the collapse on Twitter before 7 AM, urging people to avoid the area        around Forbes and Braddock Avenues near Frick Park.  Authorities were               deployed to “ensure there are no victims under the collapsed bridge.”

The site of the collapse appears to be just a few miles from Carnegie Mellon University, where Biden was set to deliver remarks.

The president's speech focused on his administration’s progress on strengthening U.S. supply chains and boosting manufacturing levels. A key tool in those efforts is the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law, the top legislative achievement of Biden’s first year in office.

It was unclear whether Biden had planned to alter his prepared remarks in light of the bridge collapse.

“The President has been told of the bridge collapse in Pittsburgh,” the White House told reporters. “Our team is in touch with state and local officials on the ground as they continue to gather information about the cause of the collapse.

“The President is grateful to the first responders who rushed to assist the drivers who were on the bridge at the time,” the White House said. “The President will proceed with trip planned and will stay in touch with officials on the ground about additional assistance we can provide.”

To make the point of the nation’s poor infrastructure, Pennsylvania’s infrastructure was ranked the seventh-worst in the nation.  Which means that there are 6 additional states that are worse than Pennsylvania.

Thank goodness that the infrastructure bill was passed by a bipartisan legislature.

Copyright G. Ater 2022