“It’s just an awful, surreal scene,” said Pennsylvania Lt. Gov John Fetterman at the site of the collapse. “I hope it’s a wake-up call to the nation that we need to make these infrastructure investments.”President Joe Biden
is on his way to Pittsburgh today to get support for his $1 trillion infrastructure bill, which includes bridge maintenance. White House representatives said he will still head to the city to make his address. “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 White House wrote in a statement. “The President is grateful to the first responders who rushed to assist the drivers who were on the bridge at the time.”
The bridge that collapsed today was built in 1970 and carried about 14,500 vehicles per day, according to 2005 estimates. A 2019 inspection of city-owned bridges revealed that the deck and superstructure of the bridge were in poor condition, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Bridge Inventory. Per the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, that means that “deterioration of primary structural elements has advanced.