LIVE! PennDOT Officials to Discuss Bridge Inspections, Conditions in Pennsylvania

Has the recent bridge collapse in Pittsburgh given you a scare or pause for concern over the poor conditions of many of the bridges in the area?

On Friday, PennDOT hopes to bring some answers and closure to many drivers’ concerns.

PennDOT will host a live stream with Acting Executive Deputy Secretary Melissa Batula and Acting Deputy Secretary for Highway Administration Mike Keiser to answer media questions about bridge inspections, condition ratings, load-posting and related topics.

Conversation will be livestreamed on PennDOT’s Facebook Page on Friday, February 4th at 1:30 p.m.

PennDOT has inspection oversight of Pennsylvania’s over 25,400 state-owned bridges and locally-owned bridges over 20’ in length.  Among Lawrence County’s 353 state and local bridges, 35, or 10%, are considered poor, according to PennDOT data.

The stream is available to be viewed by the public, anyone with a Facebook account can watch the event.

Last month, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) announced $327.2 million to fix bridges in Pennsylvania for fiscal year 2022. The funding is made possible by the infrastructure law passed last year. Pennsylvania will continue to receive additional bridge funding for four additional years as well as be able to compete for billions in additional funding dedicated to bridge and highway infrastructure. Over the next five years, Pennsylvania is expected to receive a total of $1.6 billion for bridges in formula funding alone. Pennsylvania has 3,353 bridges in poor condition, making Pennsylvania the state with the second highest number of bridges in poor condition in the country.