Pittsburgh considers demolishing poorly rated bridge over objections from nearby business

Pittsburgh officials are looking to tear down a poorly rated bridge despite ongoing litigation over the span.

The bridge crosses over Saw Mill Run Boulevard near Woodruff Street in the city’s Bon Air neighborhood. It’s not used by the public, but is used by Rohrich GM Parts Center, which is adjacent to the span.

Wabash Properties LLC, which owns the land used by Rohrich, claims in a lawsuit that the city would be violating agreements it previously made regarding the bridge by tearing it down. Rohrich did not respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit and the impact the demolition would have on its business.

In the complaint, Wabash Properties claimed the city was responsible for maintaining and repairing the span and that demolishing it would effectively cut off access for their business, which relies on the bridge as “the only means of ingress, egress and regress of large delivery vehicles to access the property and the only location for plaintiff’s employees to park their vehicles while working.”

The complaint, which references a Tribune-Review article about the condition of the span, alleges the city’s decision to close the bridge “constitutes a taking under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution because the city’s closure of the bridge does not contemplate any compensation for the value of Wabash’s taken property.”

The bridge was one of 13 spans that independent experts commissioned by the city classified as “priority zero” in a comprehensive bridge report published in December. Bridges ranked as “priority zero” had structural problems to serious that WSP USA’s experts said they should be addressed within a week.

The report said spalling — or breaking — at a portion of the bridge was a concern “because this entire section could let loose and fall directly onto/into live traffic.”

The issue was identified Oct. 31, and city officials did not address it until February.

Now, the city is looking to remove the problematic bridge altogether, said Emily Bourne, a spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure.

Legislation introduced to City Council this week would authorize the city to begin the preliminary design phase for planning for the structure’s demolition.

There is no timeline for the project yet, Bourne said.

In the meantime, she said, the city “continues to monitor the bridge.”

Already, crews have removed loose concrete over and next to live traffic and repaired deteriorated steel beams, she said. The city also has been working with the neighboring business “to restrict vehicle loading from portions of the top of the bridge,” Bourne said.

She declined to comment on the ongoing litigation.

City Council will next see the measure at their standing committees meeting next week. Council could take a preliminary vote on it then, with a final vote as soon as the following week.

Related:

• Dozens of bridges maintained by Pittsburgh in need of repairs within 6 months, report says

• 3 Pittsburgh bridges in urgent need of work not addressed for months