Pittsburgh Bridge Collapse

[jaybreak]

Most of us have heard of a local bridge collapsing here. I and everyone I know are fine. The bridge is in a rather well-to-do neighborhood of Pittsburgh (I've been there a few times) in a highly-regarded park. The coincidence of the collapse happening a few hours before Biden arrived to hawk his infrastructure bill is a bit too convenient to me. "Infrastructure" seems like an innocuous term, but there are some questionable ideas stuffed into it, like any kind of proposed bill/scheme.

Interesting video of aerial footage of the bridge, post-collapse.

A few years ago, in October of 2019, there was a large sinkhole that opened up in downtown Pittsburgh, nearly swallowing a bus whole. Crazy optics--I was able to see it up close, since I worked downtown at the time, pre-Coofid. The sheer size isn't too obvious on photos. It's not related to the bridge collapse but it obviously is being mentioned along side it in a few articles I came across.

[Ed Hurst]

I saw three cars, a pickup and an articulated bus. I can't imagine what it would feel like to have the road drop away out from under your vehicle. The sinkhole looks like it broke at some kind of joints. Was it concrete overlaid with asphalt? We have a lot of that around my neighborhood.

[jaybreak]

That's a good question, Ed. I'm not sure what the bridge consists of, honestly, but you may be right.

Found a good Twitter thread about the bridge, here. I've seen the bike lanes he mentions every work day, downtown. They are barely used.