Pittsburgh offers $500,000 to settle lawsuits over collapsed bridge

The city of Pittsburgh is seeking approval for a half-million dollar payment to settle lawsuits filed over the collapse of a bridge into a ravine more than two and a half years ago.

Deputy Mayor Jake Pawlak said Friday that he has asked the Pittsburgh City Council to authorize a payment of $500,000, the full liability amount, to settle lawsuits filed on behalf of those who were on the city’s Forbes Avenue Bridge when it collapsed on Jan. 28, 2022, sending a bus and four cars about 100 feet (30 meters) into Fern Hollow Creek. Another vehicle drove off the bridge’s eastern pier and landed on its roof. There were injuries, but no deaths.

The agreement must be approved by the council and by a judge overseeing the case.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs said the action was a surprise but that they appreciated the city “taking responsibility for allowing one of its bridges to collapse and agreeing to pay the statutory limits to partially resolve the matter,” the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. Legal action against three engineering firms is continuing, they said.

Federal investigators have said the city failed to properly maintain or repair the bridge and failed to respond to inspection reports, leading to corrosion of the structure’s steel legs. City officials did not dispute the findings and cited the creation of a new bridge maintenance department and a tripling of funding for maintenance and repairs.

A new bridge opened in December 2022 at a location five miles east of downtown Pittsburgh.

PHOTO; Vehicles that were on a bridge when it collapsed are seen Friday, Jan. 28, 2022, in Pittsburgh’s East End. As the bridge collapsed, rescuers descended nearly 150 feet while others formed a human chain to rescue several people from a dangling bus. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

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