Biden tours site of Pittsburgh bridge collapse, vows to ‘fix them all’
President Biden visited the site of a Pittsburgh bridge that collapsed hours before his arrival in the Steel City Friday and vowed to kick-start a national effort to repair faulty infrastructure.
Biden’s motorcade reached the remains of the Fern Hollow Bridge just after 1 p.m. The span had crumbled about six hours earlier, injuring 10 people — three of whom were hospitalized. No fatalities were reported.
“It’s incredible,” Biden said as he surveyed the snow-covered wreckage before praising the efforts of emergency personnel.
“It was probably too early for joggers to be down here,” Biden said to first responders.
“There was a few joggers, actually,” a police officer corrected. “One of them actually helped us get some people out of the cars.”
Biden said, “Well, I’ll be damned.”
“It’s a miracle, Mr. President,” another man said.
“It really is. It’s astounding,” Biden agreed.
“I didn’t realize there are literally more bridges in Pittsburgh than any other city in the world,” the president added. “Did you know? More than in Venice… We’re going — they’re going to fix them all. Not a joke.”
After inspecting the rubble-filled ravine, Biden expressed confusion about the age of the concrete and steel bridge that opened in 1973.
“A bridge more than 50 years old — a hundred, I think it was 150 years. It says 50 years old, but I thought it was older — collapsed right here in Pittsburgh,” Biden said during a speech nearby.
“It had been rated in poor condition for the past 10 years. What you all know — if you don’t, you should know — there are another 3,300 bridges here in Pennsylvania, some of which are just as old and just as decrepit [in] condition as that bridge was.”
Biden’s trip to Pittsburgh was scheduled in advance to promote his $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, signed in November, which puts $110 billion toward roads and bridges.
Biden said the new infrastructure law provides Pennsylvania with $1.6 billion for bridges, $327 million of which will be distributed in 2022.
