The National Transportation Safety Board won’t officially determine until Wednesday why the Fern Hollow Bridge collapsed two years ago, but state, local and federal officials already have made a series of changes about how bridges are inspected and maintained.
Those include the state updating inspection procedures to better flag bridges with evidence of continuing deterioration, Pittsburgh expanding its division that oversees bridge maintenance and hiring a consultant to recommend maintenance schedules and prioritize work on the city’s 147 bridges, and adding federal recommendations about how states care for bridges made with uncoated weathering steel such as the old Fern Hollow structure.
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