Pittsburgh's Herron Avenue Bridge temporarily closed following inspection
Pittsburgh's Herron Avenue Bridge has been temporarily closed following an inspection. Inspection consultants have deemed the bridge to be structurally "deficient," according to a detour alert from Pittsburgh Regional Transit.
The bridge was closed at 8 a.m. Wednesday until further notice.
"Following emergent findings from the City's bridge inspection consultant and PennDOT, we are moving quickly to close the Herron Avenue Bridge in the interest of public safety," said Zack Workman, P.E., Acting Chief Engineer. "Barricades and 'Bridge Closed' signage will be in place starting Wednesday. A designated detour route will guide motorists via the Bloomfield Bridge."
There are piers where concrete has fallen off and steel is exposed. The Herron Avenue Bridge gets inspections every six months. After this latest one in March and April, crews realized the piers were deteriorating faster than expected.
The Department of Mobility and Infrastructure is currently in the preliminary engineering phase of a full bridge rehabilitation, which is set to begin in 2028.
"Once we noticed it was deteriorating a lot faster than anticipated, we knew that we had to close the bridge," Pittsburgh Press Secretary Olga George said.
About 1,700 vehicles use it a day to get between Polish Hill, Lawrenceville, and the Strip District. In the meantime, people are asked to use the Bloomfield Bridge or the 28th Street Bridge.
DOMI, PennDOT, and the inspection team will explore other options for a safe and earlier reopening.
"Hopefully, they start investigating and fixing them," Carol Furlong said after walking across the bridge.
"They found the deterioration a lot sooner and prevented another Fern Hollow," George said.
For southbound traffic, a detour route will utilize Liberty Avenue to the Bloomfield Bridge to Bigelow Boulevard.
A northbound detour will utilize Bigelow Boulevard to the Bloomfield Bridge to Liberty Avenue.
The closure will impact the North Side, Oakland, and South Side (Route 54). The inbound and outbound stops at the Herron busway station will be discontinued.
This project comes while the Panther Hollow Bridge and Charles Anderson Bridge are closed due to safety concerns. Panther Hollow will open later this year, and Charles Anderson will open next year.
There is no timeline yet for Herron Avenue.
"I take this bridge every day to get to work. I work in East Liberty, and I come down the hill," Nick Nowalk said after walking across the bridge.
According to city data, of the 143 bridges they own, 26 are considered to be in "good" condition, 78 are "fair," and 39 are "poor."
