Pittsburgh proposes a $500,000 payment to settle bridge collapse lawsuits

PITTSBURGH — The city of Pittsburgh is seeking approval of a half-million-dollar payment to settle lawsuits over the collapse of a bridge into a ravine more than 2 1/2 years ago.

Deputy Mayor Jake Pawlak said Friday he had asked the Pittsburgh City Council to authorize a payment of $500,000, the full liability damage cap, to settle lawsuits filed on behalf those who were on the city-owned Forbes Avenue bridge when it fell Jan. 28, 2022, plunging a bus and four cars about 100 feet (30 meters) into the Fern Hollow Creek. Another vehicle drove off the east bridge abutment and landed on its roof. There were injuries but no one died.

The agreement needs approval from the council and a judge overseeing the case.

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

Federal investigators have said that the city didn’t adequately maintain or repair the bridge and failed to act on inspection reports, leading to the corrosion of the structure’s steel legs. City officials didn’t dispute the findings and cited creation of a new bridge maintenance division and a tripling of funding for maintenance and repairs.

A new bridge at the site 5 miles (8 kilometers) east of downtown Pittsburgh opened in December 2022.