Gov. Tom Wolf will join Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey and other local, state, and federal officials at 11 a.m. for a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the rebuilt Fern Hollow Bridge. The bridge is a critical connection between Squirrel Hill and Regent Square, carrying roughly 21,000 cars each day before its collapse.
The 447-foot span buckled and fell in the early morning of Jan. 28. Nine people were injured, but there were no fatalities. The cause of the collapse remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, which arrived on the scene just hours after the bridge fell.
Using emergency procedures, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and its contractors, design firm HDR and Swank Construction, rebuilt the bridge in just 11 months.
The new bridge will have four lanes of car travel, but during this winter just one will be open in each direction as work continues to install light poles and a pedestrian crossing from the northern sidewalk to the Frick Park gatehouse on the southern side. The southern sidewalk, which will be shared by cyclists and pedestrians, also will open on Tuesday.
PennDOT officials say they will also soon begin work to restore the park below the bridge.
