What to expect from President Biden's Pittsburgh visit

President Joe Biden will visit Pittsburgh on Friday to tout the recently passed $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill with a stop planned at Carnegie Mellon University’s Mill 19 research and development center in Hazelwood.

Pittsburgh Public Safety said Thursday that motorists should expect some delays and road closures because of the visit.

“Drivers should prepare for rolling traffic delays and detours, as well as restricted parking along Second Avenue between the Glenwood Bridge and Hazelwood Avenue for the planned event,” Pittsburgh police Cmdr. Eric Holmes said in a news release. “It is advisable to pack a measure of patience and prepare ahead with an alternative route in mind to minimize travel hurdles.”

People who use Hazelwood Avenue and Blair, Beehive, Lytle and Elize streets should prepare for parking and travel interruptions, the city said. “No parking” signs were to be placed in the area in advance of Biden’s visit. Parking restrictions will be in effect from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, the city said.

Focus of Biden’s speech

Biden’s speech will focus on how the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill might improve supply chain issues, revitalize manufacturing, and create tangible infrastructure improvements for Pittsburgh and the rest of the county, said U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), who plans to join the president.

Casey said he also expects Biden to highlight how Pittsburgh rebounded economically, as the region was able to do after steel and heavy industry collapsed in the 1980s. He said Southwestern Pennsylvania can serve as an example to the rest of the country as it continues to rebound from the pandemic.

“You can’t pick a better place in the country to talk about these issues, and talk about what is working,” said Casey. “When the coal and steel jobs were disappearing, they didn’t give up; they innovated and created their own economy.”

The site of Biden’s visit, Mill 19, is a facility focused on robotics and advanced manufacturing. Casey said these fields are essential to the economy and that Pittsburgh is the perfect backdrop to talk about the benefits of these industries.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Thursday that Biden will focus his speech on manufacturing and the economy, and attempt to remind Americans how much the economy has grown since the pandemic. The U.S. economy grew 6.9% in the fourth quarter of 2021, outpacing expectations.

Casey says he and other Democrats like Biden need to do a better job of reminding voters of their accomplishments over the last year. He expects Biden to tout that millions of Americans that have received covid vaccinations, that in-person school learning has risen from 46 to 95% and that many Americans received stimulus checks during the pandemic.

“I think [Biden] has a better chance to talk about what is in place now, that wasn’t in place then,” said Casey.

Polls remain low

However, Biden’s poll numbers are at a low point for his term.

According to a recent Pew poll, 41% of Americans approve of the job Biden has done, down from 44% in September.

Jennifer Stefano, executive vice president of the pro-business group the Commonwealth Foundation, said in a release that Biden’s visit to Pittsburgh “is nothing more than political pandering to voters, business owners, and union workers who have been hit particularly hard by his own ineptitude. It won’t work.”

Casey said he hopes Biden’s talk of his accomplishments will help sway some Americans’ views of his presidency. He said that Biden’s work with ports on the West Coast helped to free up supply chain issues, and that the infrastructure bill that Biden first advocated for while in Pittsburgh should help avoid any future supply chain issues too.

Pennsylvania is set to receive about $18 billion over the next five years from the infrastructure package. Locally, the Montgomery Locks and Dam in Beaver County has been allocated $857 million for repairs and modernization, which is about one-third of the total amount reserved for inland waterways throughout the country.

Casey said the dam was in serious need of repairs and modernizing it will help maintain the flow of goods out of Pittsburgh. He said he expects Biden to highlight this and a few other infrastructure improvements that will come to the region and Pennsylvania thanks to the infrastructure bill.

“That is another way to move commodities and to keep the supply chain running,” said Casey.