At least ten persons were injured after a bridge in Pittsburgh collapsed on Friday, hours before the scheduled visit of United States President Joe Biden to highlight his push for infrastructure improvement in the country.
The two-lane bridge collapsed early morning, requiring rescuers to rappel around 150 feet (46 meters). Bystanders reportedly formed a human chain to assist in rescuing passengers in a dangling bus, per Fox News.
President Joe Biden was scheduled to visit the city to push his $1 trillion infrastructure program, including bridge maintenance.
Pittsburgh Bridge Collapse Under Investigation
According to Sam Wasserman, a spokesperson for Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey, city authorities evaluated the scene. A search and rescue team had been deployed to search the area for other potential collapse victims.
He said the majority of the ten people treated for injuries were first responders checked for exhaustion or due to the cold and icy conditions. Three persons were brought to the hospital, but none of them were seriously hurt.
Three of the reported injuries were brought to a hospital. Though their injuries were not fatal, they remained confined in the medical facility.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said in a tweet that his office is monitoring the situation and is prepared to provide support as needed.
At the site of the collapse, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman described the site of the collapse as "an awful, surreal scene."
"I hope it's a wake-up call to the nation that we need to make these infrastructure investments," Fetterman noted.
The official said that the bridge collapse looks like a scene after an earthquake. There's a huge crack on the end where the bus was situated, with an upside-down car in front of it. Authorities advised motorists to refrain from the site.
— Pittsburgh Public Safety (@PghPublicSafety) January 28, 2022
Biden's Visit Pushes Through
The White House told the members of the press that President Biden's planned trip to Pittsburgh would proceed despite the incident.
Washington previously announced that Biden would visit Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, per NPR.
White House will coordinate with state and local officials on the details of the collapse and for any federal assistance needed to address the incident.
"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 statement said.
It added: "The President is grateful to the first responders who rushed to assist the drivers who were on the bridge at the time."
According to an estimate in 2005, around 14,500 vehicles pass by the steel bridge every day. The most recent inspection, according to Wasserman, took place in September, although the report was readily available.
Based on a September 2019 inspection of the US Department of Transportation's National Bridge Inventory, the city-owned bridge's superstructure was already in a poor state.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation website contains a spreadsheet with a piece of information on the bridge's overall status indicating that it was in dire condition due to the "advanced" deterioration of its primary structural elements, per The Associated Press.
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