11 Investigates: Some city workers in charge of bridges before Fern Hollow collapse remain in roles

PITTSBURGH — City of Pittsburgh employees spanning four different administrations saw inspection reports of the Fern Hollow Bridge dating back to 2005, but the NTSB said during a hearing Wednesday that no one took any action.

11 investigates also discovered that some of the same city employees in charge of bridges before the collapse remain in the same positions.

Pittsburgh officials were repeatedly warned in inspection reports, according to the NTSB, about the deteriorating conditions of the Fern Hollow bridge, but time and time again they say little was done to address the problems.

>>> Fern Hollow Bridge collapsed due to ‘extensive’ corrosion, inability to carry load, NTSB says

“All these things were called up year after year as being problems, recommendations were made as to what needed to be done to fix them, year after year and those items were never taken care of,” said Steve Prouty, an NTSB structural engineer.

So did city employees under four different administrations just ignore the reports or were they not dire enough?

The NTSB said the earliest inspection report they received was from 2005, during Mayor Tom Murphy’s administration.

In 2006, Mayor Bob O’Connor took office but died less than a year later.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl took over until 2014. Mayor Bill Peduto served from 2014 until 2022 when Mayor Ed Gainey was elected.

Based on the corrosion detailed in inspection reports, the NTSB said the city should have taken drastic action in 2014.

“The Fern Hollow Bridge should have, would have been closed,” said Jennifer Homendy, NTSB Chair.

The bridge collapsed one month into Gainey’s term.

11 Investigates has learned that some of the same employees who were in charge of bridges before the collapse are still in those same positions today. Chief Investigative Reporter Rick Earle questioned Gainey about that Wednesday afternoon.

Earle: Do you have any concerns that some of the same people were with the city prior to the bridge collapse and they are still with the city now.

Mayor Gainey: I’m not going to talk about personnel because it was a different administration back then.

Earle: But the same people are in there?

Mayor Gainey: Yes, but at the end of the day the administration sets the tone.

Immediately after the collapse, Gainey took action, creating a Bridge Asset Management Program to oversee inspections and maintenance. And the Mayor is not done yet.

“That’s why we continue to set up structures to ensure that we never have to wake up to that nightmare again,” Gainey said.

Sources tell 11 Investigates that the key players in the Peduto administration were unaware of the dire situation with the Fern Hollow Bridge.

Why the information from those inspection reports twice a year was never conveyed to them is unclear.

It’s also unclear what the previous administrations knew and didn’t know about the bridge.

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