A Pittsburgh bridge collapsed hours before the arrival of US President Joe Biden to discuss infrastructure
A Pittsburgh bridge collapsed hours before the arrival of US President Joe Biden to discuss infrastructure Pittsburgh Public Safety via AFP

A bridge collapsed in Pittsburgh on Friday just hours before President Joe Biden is scheduled to travel to the steel city to tout his $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan he signed into law last year.

A total of 10 people were injured and three people were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

“The good thing, at this point, is that there’s no fatalities,” Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said to the media, reported the New York Post. “We were fortunate.”

Pittsburgh Public Safety confirmed the collapse before 7 a.m. ET and urged the public to avoid the areas near Frick Park. Authorities have been deployed to the scene to ensure no victims have been trapped underneath the destruction.

Pittsburgh Fire Chief Darryl Jones confirmed three or four vehicles were on the bridge at the time of the collapse, including a city bus. “The others [who were hurt] were some of our first responders who [suffered] slips and falls and things like that...So everybody’s okay,” Jones said.

The collapse occurred just miles away from where Biden is scheduled to speak on Friday about his infrastructure bill, which is designed to include $550 billion in new spending to improve the nation's roads, highways, bridges, public transportation, and broadband.

“We need it,” Gainey said when asked about funding from the new infrastructure plan, as reported by the NY Post. “I’ve said it before, this bipartisan infrastructure law, it’s critical to Southwest Pennsylvania and the city of Pittsburgh. We know we have bridges that we need to take care of...At the end of the day, we could have had some serious injuries."

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki tweeted Biden is aware of the incident and will speak at the event as scheduled.

“@POTUS is grateful to the first responders who rushed to assist the drivers who were on the bridge at the time. The President will proceed with his trip planned for today and will stay in touch with officials on the ground about additional assistance we can provide," Psaki wrote. “Our team is in touch with state and local officials on the ground as they continue to gather information about the cause of the collapse."

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