3 Pittsburgh-area bridges will get $132 million for rehab projects
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Big improvements are on the way for three busy bridges: the McKees Rocks, Fort Duquesne and the West End bridges. The investments total $132 million.
The city of bridges requires a regimen of constant repairs. Local politicians say they fought for the money and got it.
These bridges are old and need critical work now. Our local leaders found some more money, but two questions still remain: Will it be enough? And how long do we need to wait before work gets going?
Standing in front of a backdrop of bridges, our politicians say we just secured $132 million to rehab three of them.
"This is yet another example of our administration's GSD attitude: get stuff done. I'll let you drop out the 'stuff,'" said Lt. Gov. Austin Davis.
Davis and local leaders asked PennDOT's secretary to push that funding reserved for critical projects our way. He did, but don't expect orange cones soon.
"Well, there's still design work that has to be done and so I would measure probably in months and years and not days and weeks," said PennDOT Secretary Michael Carroll.
Former Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, who is now the executive director of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, said this money saves us big down the line.
"These bridges are in decent condition right now. In a few years, if they weren't in such good condition, you'd have to start weight limiting and restricting things and boy, would that hurt the economy here," Fitzgerald said.
The bulk of the $132 million will go towards repairing the Fort Duquesne Bridge, and then two other 100-year-old bridges.
"It includes $47 million more for the West End Bridge, which was built in 1930 and last saw a rehab of the main river span back in 1991," Davis said.
And the final $25 million will repair the McKees Rocks Bridge -- the longest bridge in Allegheny County that last saw a deck replacement in 1985.
Politicians continue to push for new funding and get creative when it comes to moving money. Because if the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse taught people anything, it's don't expect it to keep standing if you're not going to take care of it