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

2025-04-29 12:04:31source:Marcus Eriksoncategory:News

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Phaninccity 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.

More:News

Recommend

Golf's No. 1 Nelly Korda looking to regain her form – and her spot on the Olympic podium

SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France – The more celebrated Nelly Korda becomes as a golfer, the more no

Three children died in a New Orleans house fire in a suspected triple homicide, police say

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The deaths of three children in an overnight house fire are being investigated as

Why John Stamos Hated Ex Rebecca Romijn During Painful Divorce

John Stamos is looking back on his relationship with ex-wife Rebecca Romijn with a little more mercy