Buttigieg views aging Pittsburgh bridges, says it's time for 'generational investment'
Pittsburgh-area officials took U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on a river tour Thursday to highlight the region’s infrastructure needs.
Mr. Buttigieg said he saw crumbling bridges with aprons underneath to catch falling parts and heard about a system of locks and dams that has outlived its expected lifespan by more than 50 years while he was on the Ohio and Allegheny rivers. But he said he also saw a vibrant transportation system with many boats on the rivers, planes flying overhead, the light rail system and many tractor-trailers on the highways.
Together, those images highlight the “challenges and opportunities” the Biden administration’s push for a $2 trillion American Jobs Plan offers to rebuild infrastructure across the country, Mr. Buttigieg said during remarks on a Grandview Avenue observation deck on Mount Washington after the tour.
Mr. Buttigieg's department is expected to oversee a large part of the jobs program through a proposed $2 trillion in spending on infrastructure. That is expected to include everything from improving roads and bridges to expanding broadband; increasing charging stations for electric vehicles; and replacing diesel school buses and transit buses with electric vehicles.
Read more: https://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2021/05/06/Pete-Buttigieg-Pittsburgh-visit-press-conference-Mayor-Bill-Peduto-American-Jobs-Plan-infrastructure-transportation-Bob-Casey-Conor-Lamb-Rich-Fitzgerald/stories/202105060125
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Any, I read "brides" for "bridges" and thought, Why on earth would he care about aging Pittsburgh brides? 
A lot of our bridges have been inspected, repaired or rebuilt in the last 13 years.
He should have seen Allegheny County back when the I-35W bridge collapsed in Minneapolis in 2007 or thereabouts. We had at least 10 bridges that were as bad as the one in Minneapolis. That collapse put the fear of God in the bridge inspectors in Pittsburgh. Everything went on the front-burner after that disaster.
For those who don't realize it, we have more bridges per square mile in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County than just about anywhere in the US. Inspecting and repairing bridges is a major big deal here, and it had been neglected for way too long.
