Traffic resumes on Pittsburgh's Herron Avenue Bridge after safety repairs

Pittsburgh officials have reopened the Herron Avenue Bridge to traffic after a four-month closure.

In May, an independent consultant and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation said there were safety issues with columns supporting the bridge, which connects the city’s Polish Hill and Lawrenceville neighborhoods and spans the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway.

Last month, the bridge was deemed safe for normal operation with no load restrictions. The bridge was back to business as usual on Monday.

“This bridge may have been closed for much of the summer, but thanks to the hard work of our in-house team at (the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure) and our external partners, it’s now back open to serve our residents and connect our communities,” said Mayor Ed Gainey in a statement.

Prior to the closure, the Herron Avenue Bridge had been receiving inspections every six months due to deterioration in several areas, which revealed that the rebar within the concrete on at least one column was exposed.

“Despite its young age and modern construction, the bridge is actually one of the city’s more complicated structures, largely due to the bridge deck spanning the PRT Busway, CSX, Norfolk Southern, Allegheny Valley and Amtrak railroads,” a press release from the city said.

Bridge collapses have been a major concern since the Fern Hollow Bridge collapsed in Frick Park and injured several motorists in January 2022.

Since then, the city has closed a number of bridges for maintenance, including the Charles Anderson Memorial Bridge in Schenley Park, which is expected to reopen to traffic by fall 2026, and the Panther Hollow Bridge in Schenley Park, which is expected to reopen this year.

“Since the start of my term, I’ve had to make the tough call to close bridges more than once, but I’m always proud when we can reopen them safely,” Gainey said.

Since Herron Avenue Bridge’s emergency repair work has concluded, both lanes and the western sidewalk are now fully accessible. The Department of Mobility and Infrastructure is in the preliminary phase for a preservation project on the bridge.

“We’re proud to safely reopen the Herron Avenue Bridge after it was forced to close earlier this summer, and we’re looking forward to a bridge preservation project … where the bridge will be restored to a like-new condition,” said Jacob Williams, a spokesperson for the city’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure.

Construction for the project is “tentatively scheduled to begin in 2028 and will include full restoration of the deck, sidewalks, railings, joints, bearings, girders, piers and abutment walls,” according to a release.