https://twitter.com/JohnFetterman/status/1487142012881186818?s=20&t=IzLYGiCPI5zM6sr_Qn8mIw
“Thankfully the schools were on a two-hour delay for weather so the traffic was less than it would have been normally,” Fetterman, who is also running for Senate, stated.
“I’m speechless,” Fetterman told CNN, noting it was “surreal” seeing the bridge he’s driven on many times fall.
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/591783-pennsylvania-lt-gov-at-the-scene-of-bridge-collapse-im-speechless
Articles post time says 6:22am. Bridge collapsed around that time? Weird timing?
https://www.wesa.fm/politics-government/2022-01-28/fetterman-shapiro-to-miss-bidens-visit-to-pittsburgh-cite-scheduling-conflicts
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was in Philadelphia on Friday to announce a new bridge repair program that will pump millions of dollars into this area.
Pennsylvania has a huge bridge problem, with more than 3,500 bridges eligible for this federal help, more than any other state in the nation.
So maybe it’s no surprise that Buttigieg came to this state to announce a bridge repair program.
“The bridge formula program that we’re launching today is the largest dedicated highway investment since the construction of the interstate highway system itself,” said Buttigieg.
It’s money from the Bipartisan Infrastructure bill that will pump $1.6 billion for bridge repairs into this state over the next five years. Buttigieg said the money is needed, especially in Pittsburgh.
“In Pittsburgh when I was with the secretary and senator and others, we saw nets that hung under the McKees Rocks Bridge to catch pieces of concrete that would fall off,” noted Buttigieg.
This year alone, $327 million can be spent by PennDOT on any of the state’s poor bridges.
https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2022/01/14/transportation-secretary-buttigieg-unveils-bridge-repair-funding-plan/
(PITTSBURGH, PA) – Today, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) launched the largest Bridge Formula Program in American history, made possible by the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Representative Conor Lamb (PA-17), whose Support for Community Bridges Act legislation was included in the final language of the infrastructure bill, announced that Pennsylvania will receive a total of $1.6 billion over the next five years, with $327.2 million being designated for the program in Fiscal Year 2022.
“Western Pennsylvania is home to hundreds of bridges that are in desperate need of repair,” said Lamb. “This historic federal funding – passed with bipartisan support – will ensure that we are able to invest in these critical transportation connections in communities across our region and create good, union jobs for construction and trades workers.”
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, Pennsylvania has 3,353 structurally deficient bridges across the state. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gave Pennsylvania's bridges a D+ grade in its most recent Infrastructure Report Card.
The Bridge Formula Program under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law represents the largest investment ever made in fixing the nation’s bridges, dedicating a total of $26.5 billion to states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico over the next five years. The FHWA guidance issued today also encourages states to direct increased funds to off-system bridges owned by a county, city, town or other local agency and that federal funds can be used for 100% of the cost of repairing or rehabilitating such locally owned off-system bridges with no local or state funding match requirement.
http://lamb.house.gov/media/press-releases/lamb-announces-pa-receive-16-billion-fix-bridges-under-bipartisan
"One man told me that the bridge he traveled on every day is a tragedy waiting to happen," the president said.
The Biden administration Friday urged states to get to work getting thousands of aging bridges up to par, improving safety and uncorking bottlenecks, with the help of $27.3 billion in new federal aid.
The White House announced the allocation to mark 60 days since President Joe Biden signed the $1 trillion infrastructure bill. The bridge program is one of the largest new sources of federal spending in the package and one that encapsulates its bipartisan appeal.
Bridges serve as key economic links and stand out as icons or bugbears in communities across the country, with politicians regularly invoking the idea that they are "crumbling" to argue for new spending. The administration said the funding represents the biggest federal investment in bridges since creation of the interstate highway system.
"When we invest in infrastructure, we're really investing in opportunity," Biden said in announcing the funding. "These are investments that will build a better America. It sounds like hyperbole, but it's real."
"One man told me that the bridge he traveled on every day is a tragedy waiting to happen," the president said. "One woman wrote that a bridge near the center of her town had to be closed, and now drivers and tourists bypass downtown … devastating local businesses. And one person wrote to me to say, quote, 'This is your chance to show the people in my area that they matter to you.' End of quote. I hear you."
The five-year program aims to repair and upgrade roughly 15,000 bridges. The government will release nearly $5.5 billion this fiscal year.
https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2022/jan/15/us-tells-states-to-put-273b-to-use-repairing-old/
The Federal Transit Administration has awarded the Port Authority of Allegheny County $565,500 to study Transit Oriented Development along a possible extension of the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway.
Transit-Oriented Development, or TOD, means the creation of dense housing and amenities within walking distance of high-quality transit.
“Port Authority will match the grant with $240,000 of our own money, making it a roughly $800,000 planning project,” Port Authority spokesperson Adam Brandolph tells Pittsburgh City Paper in an email, “which will explore the potential for equitable transit-oriented development and community connectivity in the Swissvale-Rankin-Braddock-North Braddock corridor with a focus on expanding economic opportunity for residents, rebuilding blighted neighborhoods, creating safer transportation infrastructure, and growing transit ridership.”
Port Authority named extending the busway one of its top priorities in its long-range plan, NEXTransit.
Laura Chu Wiens, Executive Director of transit access advocacy organization Pittsburghers for Public Transit, says transit riders in the Mon Valley have been advocating for an extension of the East Busway for many years. “Community members really stood up to push this into Port Authority’s priorities,” Wiens tells Pittsburgh City Paper.
Transit ridership in Swissvale, Rankin, Braddock, and nearby municipalities is high and has remained high throughout the pandemic, despite the Mon Valley’s poor transit access, Wiens says.
“Five of the municipalities with the highest transit usage in all of Pennsylvania are within [the Swissvale-Rankin-Braddock-North Braddock] corridor,” reads PPT’s Beyond the East Busway Policy Brief, which discusses the organization’s recommendations for on-street bus rapid transit extension of the East Busway.
https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/port-authority-gets-federal-money-to-look-at-extending-east-busway/Content?oid=21004611