Commenters in this thread are making a lot of generalizations about tax structures and so on, but it important to keep in mind this is a special case at a number of levels. Pittsburgh has an unusually large number of bridges. These bridges were built during times of relative wealth when the local steel and related industries were doing well. Since the decline of American industry Pittsburgh has scaled way back and had to rebuild itself as a medical and technology center. This recovery is mostly a success story, but the infrastructure cannot be maintained. For example, the greater Pittsburgh area has some of the first suburban areas to be completely abandoned with services withdrawn, Penn Hills being a poignant example of this. Obviously no bridges should be coming down, but there is a real problem here of how to build and maintain a modern city that is smaller than the older one that it replaces.
Its stuff like this that scares me. Pittsburgh claims to have more bridges than any other city in the world.[0] You're driving around here, and you cross little ones without noticing. I hope I'm not ever near (or using) a collapsing one. The rivers are big here.<p>[0] <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/magazine-30187252" rel="nofollow">https://www.bbc.com/news/av/magazine-30187252</a><p>Edit: not bridge related, but a sinkhole opened downtown over 2 years ago, also swallowing a bus: <a href="https://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2019/10/28/Port-Authority-falls-sinkhole-in-Downtown-Pittsburgh/stories/201910280067" rel="nofollow">https://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2019/10/28/...</a>
Lot of talk about the Federal government need to step into a city and manage the bridges.<p>Cities have (often highly) paid inspectors to do just that, inspect bridges and make recommendations, and issue warnings. As noted by PascLeRasc et al. the degradation of the bridge has been reported to the city.<p>As for funding through Federal government, my experience has always been:<p>The resident pays their Federal tax. The Fed takes their administrative cut.<p>Fed allocates remaining funds to the State. The State takes their administrative cut.<p>State allocates remaining funds to the City (or county). The city takes their administrative cut.<p>City allocates remaining funds to contractors to fix the bridges.<p>Put it in an other way, humans value things exponentially more when their own sweat went into the things, than if it was just given to them. By coming at State level, residents have a closer connection and understanding where the money came from, and would demand higher accountability.<p>Just my opinion.
Check out the 311 report from 2018: <a href="https://twitter.com/gpk320/status/1078885655634157569?s=21" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/gpk320/status/1078885655634157569?s=21</a>
I just went over to the Penn DOT website to see how many other bridges around the state are in "poor" condition. Answer: 4,157. :-O. There's even more local bridges in "poor" condition than in "good" condition.<p>Screens of the report (server is slow):<p><a href="https://ibb.co/YjZDSWr" rel="nofollow">https://ibb.co/YjZDSWr</a><p><a href="https://ibb.co/zFCtmCp" rel="nofollow">https://ibb.co/zFCtmCp</a><p>Tool links:<p><a href="https://gis.penndot.gov/paprojects/BridgeConditionsMap.aspx#" rel="nofollow">https://gis.penndot.gov/paprojects/BridgeConditionsMap.aspx#</a><p><a href="https://gis.penndot.gov/paprojects/Reports/BridgeConditionsReport.aspx?aoiType=statewide&aoiValue=42" rel="nofollow">https://gis.penndot.gov/paprojects/Reports/BridgeConditionsR...</a>
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette [1] provides many more photos and in-depth reporting.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2022/01/28/pittsburgh-bridge-collapse-forbes-braddock-avenue-point-breeze-squirrel-hill/stories/202201280075" rel="nofollow">https://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2022/01/28/pittsburg...</a>
The condition of the bridge was rated "Poor" in 2017. To understand what "Poor" can mean, here's a photo taken from underneath the bridge in 2018:<p><a href="https://twitter.com/gpk320/status/1078885655634157569" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/gpk320/status/1078885655634157569</a>
Since we're talking decaying infrastructure and Pennsylvania, it seems a good time to remind people that US dams need work, too.<p>A collapsed bridge is nothing compared to a failed dam like the Austin Dam failure, which is worth a visit if you're ever in the area: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_Dam_failure_(Pennsylvania)" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_Dam_failure_(Pennsylvan...</a>
Curious on liability here. If a bridge collapses is the municipality liable for repairs to your car / medical?<p>Do you assume this risk when you drive that infrastructure failure is your liability?
Somewhat ironically, President Biden is scheduled to be about 3-4 miles away this afternoon to discuss the infrastructure plan focused on repairing America's infrastructure. With over 400+ bridges in the City of Pittsburgh, it feels like it's only a matter of time.<p>This particular bridge is known as the Fern Hollow Bridge, I've driven over it probably hundreds of times and walked under it hundreds more. It always felt... temporary.<p>Here's Google Street view of underneath the bridge: <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4394129,-79.9003702,3a,75y,244.83h,135.95t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipPGAwe1Rym06qIUusvu7tBnEb99zuGM5E2rvg17!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPGAwe1Rym06qIUusvu7tBnEb99zuGM5E2rvg17%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-1.6476443-ya225.72565-ro3.981301-fo100!7i5760!8i2880" rel="nofollow">https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4394129,-79.9003702,3a,75y,2...</a><p>Here's the bracing underneath the Fern Hollow Bridge: <a href="https://bridgehunter.com/photos/40/56/405643-M.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://bridgehunter.com/photos/40/56/405643-M.jpg</a>
And here's another similar bridge in a nearby Schenley Park: <a href="http://pghbridges.com/pittsburghE/0589-4477/schenley0695.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://pghbridges.com/pittsburghE/0589-4477/schenley0695.jpg</a>
NYTimes story had a telling quote: [<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/28/us/pittsburgh-bridge-collapse-biden.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/28/us/pittsburgh-bridge-coll...</a>]<p>" Greg Kochanski, a software engineer, was walking his dog under the bridge about three years ago when he noticed that one of the X beams that stabilized the bridge was so rusted that it had disconnected from the column to which it had been attached.<p>"He reported this to the city in a tweet and, several weeks later, he said, noticed that the rusted beam had been removed."
I believe my family and I drove over this bridge, when we were in Pittsburgh 4 years ago.<p>I hate to say this, but the condition of bridges like this is one of the major reasons that Pennsylvania currently has one of the highest gas taxes in the country.<p>And whatever PennDOT is spending the tax money on, this bridge-- in one of the two largest cities in our state-- collapsed anyway.
A bridge in Kenmore (near Seattle) collapsed two years ago. They've been rebuilding it constantly for 2 years now.<p>For perspective, the first transcontinental railroad was built by hand in 6 years, for 1900 miles, including a large number of bridges.
Unbelievable photo of the decrepit state three years ago: <a href="https://twitter.com/gpk320/status/1078885655634157569" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/gpk320/status/1078885655634157569</a>
I've been across this bridge probably a hundred or so times since childhood... scary stuff. Our geography is pretty prohibitive to population increase for a larger tax base to support the infrastructure. Lots of plateaus and rivers are the reason for the large number of bridges and tunnels. Even as a local, Pittsburgh is really difficult to get around. The T doesn't go to many places around the city. Buses have the same problems as cars. The inclines stopped being useful. Have fun getting hit by a car while cycling (you'll have the strongest calves to make up for it). The roads are hard to navigate and there isn't enough space for the innovative roundabout. There are some benefits from the geography like culturally distinct neighborhoods but the infrastructure issue really needs addressed. Fortunately, we have our best civil engineers working on the problem [0]<p>[0] <a href="https://www.theonion.com/urban-planner-stuck-in-traffic-of-own-design-1819567293" rel="nofollow">https://www.theonion.com/urban-planner-stuck-in-traffic-of-o...</a>
This hits close to home… I’ve run under and over that bridge many, many times. I really hope no one was on their morning run under it, but it looks like everyone who was on it got away with minor injuries.<p>It is a main artery for connecting two neighborhoods… there are many bridges like this all over Pittsburgh, but it’s not the “big” ones over one of the three rivers.<p>Odd timing, but Biden is also in town today. Talk about crumbling critical infrastructure…
There was an article posted on HN about a year ago, which said that most/all urban areas in the US (and I suspect in many other countries) cannot afford to maintain their infrastructure and are just buying time before major problems with water/sewerage/roads etc.<p>I can honestly imagine that any local authority who might apply for e.g. $50M to build a bridge do not make sure they can either amortize that cost over 50 years to replace it or otherwise add a reasonable amount of yearly expenditure to make repairs as needed. Concrete seems particularly bad since it is very hard to "repair" and the knowledge of how to build it properly only 50 years ago was poor. Lots of major concrete structures have not lasted long.
If you live in the state, this is not a surprising story. Residents are well aware of huge number of bridges rated as poor or requiring maintenance. Not to mention the terrible condition of many roads. Granted PA is one of the states with the most miles of roads. One would think that one of the highest gas taxes and hundreds of millions in funding from the turnpike would be sufficient...
I checked the TxDOT bridge report out of curiosity.<p>"Out of 55,000 Bridges in Texas, Only 787 (1.4%) are in Poor Condition—much lower than the national average.<p><a href="https://ftp.txdot.gov/pub/txdot-info/library/reports/gov/bridge/fy20.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://ftp.txdot.gov/pub/txdot-info/library/reports/gov/bri...</a>
I was curious to see how each state was doing and Google didn’t disappoint:<p><a href="https://artbabridgereport.org/state/map" rel="nofollow">https://artbabridgereport.org/state/map</a>
US is set to collect approx. $3.86 trillion in taxes this year and 18.5% ($715 billion) of it is allocated for military budget and 1.3% ($51 billion) of it will be handed-out as Foreign Aid to other nations while another 8% ($300 billion) will be used to pay interest payments on our national debt. Only 3% ($115 billion) is allocated to modernize the bridges, highways, roads, and main streets that are in most critical need of repair. Maybe the government is the largest/legal ponzi scheme after all.<p>Edit: I provided a wrong figure earlier for Foreign Aid. As per @whatkim, the correct amount should be approx. 1.3% ($51 billion) for 2021.<p>You can see a complete categorical breakdown here: <a href="https://datalab.usaspending.gov/americas-finance-guide/spending/categories/" rel="nofollow">https://datalab.usaspending.gov/americas-finance-guide/spend...</a><p>Still, there are a few areas of concern:<p>1. Income Security > Other Income Security $831 billion<p>2. Education is 41% of the military budget! $296 billion
Pennsylvania DOT is one of the more corrupt agencies related to transportation. As but one example:<p><a href="https://www.attorneygeneral.gov/taking-action/former-penndot-executive-charged-with-felony-for-accepting-bribes/" rel="nofollow">https://www.attorneygeneral.gov/taking-action/former-penndot...</a>
I'm just guessing, but it seems like the bus by itself was probably between 40% and 80% of the rated load of the bridge (buses have remarkably variable weight). Add in some snow and ice and I can see how it became overloaded.
The BBC recently had a programme about the Genoa bridge collapse: <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0007mxm" rel="nofollow">https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0007mxm</a>
I remember hiking under this bridge - it's a nice park but often this area was super crowded on nice days during warm weather. Lots of people with their dogs. In the years I lived in PGH I always thought about how it was just a matter of time before a bridge would collapse - there's an insane amount of bridges throughout the city and just by the looks of some of them, gravity was going to win sooner than later. It's amazing that no one was killed, glad it wasn't the middle of the Summer when Frick Park is full, it could have been a lot worse.
An unfortunate punctuation mark for the infrastructure speech the President is about to give in PA.<p>For readers outside of the US, how are similar infrastructure issues?
I used to live next to the bridge mentioned here by John Oliver. Pittsburgh is something.<p><a href="https://youtu.be/Wpzvaqypav8?t=447" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/Wpzvaqypav8?t=447</a><p>"One of these arch bridges actually has a structure built under it to catch falling deck ... see that structure underneath it, they actually built that to catch falling concrete." ... "They built a bridge under the bridge..."<p>They've since repaired this one.
Like other short term focused decisions made by the baby boomer generation, the US bridge situation is dire. Within 20 years this will be a common news story.<p>Unfortunately, spending on infrastructure which benefits most people (including the business owners who vote against it) is now equated with socialism as a dirty word and something which only the evil liberals want, because they want to take your hard work and money and distribute it to people who don’t want to work. At least, that’s almost verbatim what I’m hearing right now on my Texan parents’ Fox tv while I visit.<p>The US is headed for a very dismal half century, and fighting or even trying to debate appears to not be an option. I see no solution except to call it dead and move to more progressive countries.<p>Unfortunately, some of the smarter more educated other countries are now being brainwashed by the same tactics that allowed Fox News and conservative radio hosts to lead masses to vote aggressively against their own interests.
Such a useless article by itself, and shows lack of engineering experience in HN.<p>Lacking crucial details:<p>1) Inspection Data (When last inspection, any indications of stress fractures, etc etc)<p>2) Original Estimated Lifetime at expected loads<p>3) Real World Loading Data<p>4) Updated Estimated Lifetime Following Real World Loading data<p>It almost impossible to make any judgements about failure conditions without data. 'Bridge Failed" by itself is useless
Chinese people: we can build so fast<p>Americans: Well, that’s because you don’t build it to not fall down. That’s why we build slowly.<p>Americans: our shit falls down anyway