Editorial: Could simple maintenance have prevented the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse?

The Fern Hollow Bridge collapse in January 2022 was not just a calamity for Pittsburgh.

It was an alarm bell for every community with an uncoated, weathering, steel bridge like the one that fell into a Frick Park ravine.

On Thursday, the National Transportation Safety Board issued a report that sounded a dire warning for bridge owners such as states, counties and municipalities. The danger, it said, is not following up on critical maintenance issues.

That should go without saying.

After all, the state is zealous in its demands for regular inspection and maintenance of vehicles. They must be thoroughly assessed annually. If they’re too corroded by Pennsylvania’s damp weather and winter salt to be safe, they’re not awarded the sticker that says they can be used on public roads. If they seem like they would pose a threat to other drivers, they can’t pass.

That affects about 10.7 million cars per year in the Keystone State alone.

There are 23,202 bridges in Pennsylvania, which has the second most structurally deficient spans in the country. The Federal Highway Administration puts 3,112, or 13%, of the state’s bridges in that category. And, even if they aren’t diminished to that point yet, an even greater number of bridges are in bad shape. According to PennDOT, there are 2,353 state-owned bridges and 1,642 locally owned bridges rated in poor condition.

Fern Hollow Bridge was cleaned up, redesigned and replaced in 11 months. It cost $23.5 million that was almost instantly produced because of when the bridge fell. It coincidentally collapsed the morning of President Joe Biden’s visit to Pittsburgh to promote infrastructure investment, making it a poster child for getting that work done.

How many bridges will have the stars align that way?

Fern Hollow Bridge illustrates the problem. The NTSB points to simple neglect that contributed to the collapse.

“Maintenance activities to address these issues were called for in numerous inspection reports but were not completed,” the report said.

Reading this calls to mind expensive fixes. New steel. New decking. New asphalt. But the report points to much easier work, the kind of thing that homeowners take care of annually with their gutters.

“Debris, dirt and leaves were blocking the drainage systems on the Fern Hollow Bridge, allowing water to drain onto areas not intended for water flow and preventing the protective patina (on uncoated weathering steel) from forming,” the NTSB said.

For lack of simple cleaning, a decades-old bridge decayed to the point of dropping into a ravine. Similar bridges were examined in Pennsylvania. They showed similar corrosion and deterioration, the report stated, although it did not note corrosion as advanced as that at Fern Hollow.

It was enough, however, to issue a warning.

Just like maintaining a car, it is a lot easier — and cheaper — to do regular and comprehensive maintenance on a bridge to keep it safe than it is to deal with the physical, financial and legal fallout should it fail.