Report: Pa. Bridge Corroded Months Before Collapse

Brief 

A lengthy report detailing severe decay in the structure of the Fern Hollow Bridge was made months before it collapsed in January, yet no immediate repairs were recommended. The October report by inspectors revealed rusted holes in the bridge’s support legs, which in some cases no longer had support from cross beams, and concrete severely corroded by road salt allowing water to reach the steel beneath.

Insight

Rust corrosion so bad that there were holes in the steel support legs. A bridge deck so compromised by chlorides from winter salt that the concrete underside was decaying and water was seeping through to the steel below. Steel cross-beams “severed” from their connection to the support legs that hold up the bridge.

This was the grim condition of Fern Hollow Bridge in early October 2021, as documented by inspectors who were the last ones to review the bridge’s problems less than four months before it suddenly collapsed on Jan.

28, according to a copy of a partially redacted inspection report provided this week to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation in response to a Right to Know request.Despite those significant structural concerns — documented on 106 pages with scores of color photos — no alarms were raised by inspectors for any immediate repairs, though the findings detail a long list of decaying conditions.

“What I’m wondering is: Why didn’t they close it down?” asked David Beck, a structural engineer based in New Hampshire with more than 50 years of experience in design and construction, after viewing the inspection report at the Post-Gazette’s request.

Pete Giglione, an attorney representing Daryl Luciani, the Port Authority driver who survived the collapse despite his bus falling into the ravine on the bridge, said he was stunned by the inspection report’s findings, calling it “a time bomb.”