NTSB chair: Pittsburgh bridge collapse ‘should serve as a call to action’

The chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board said that Friday’s collapse of the Fern Hollow Bridge in Pittsburgh should “serve as a call to action,” the Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported. 

“Although we can’t determine the cause of the collapse while we’re on the scene, this should serve as a call to action,” NTSB chairwoman Jennifer Homendy. 

Homendy said she was grateful there were no casualties in the incident.

“When I look at the position of the bus, and the position of the vehicles, I’m really thankful that no one lost their life in this collapse,” Homendy said. “And then when you’re next to the structure, and you’re underneath the structure, the damage is massive.”

Homendy added there are areas she and her team will “closely examine” from the incident, saying the goal is to make sure this doesn’t happen again, the Gazette reported. 

“Our mission here is to determine how this collapse happened, why it happened and to prevent it from ever happening again,” Homendy said. “This will be a long, technical investigation.”

Homendy’s remarks come amid the collapse of the Fern Hollow Bridge Friday, which sent several vehicles and a Port Authority bus plunging into a deep ravine, injuring 10 motorists in the process. 

“I know you’re going to ask me about inspection reports,” Homendy said. “But when we’re on the scene, we want to document the scene and focus on the scene. The information on a piece of paper, we can do that once we leave the scene. The evaluation of that will come later.”