Months after Pennsylvania officials stripped crucial information about poorly rated bridges from public view, a veteran state lawmaker is pushing for databases that will alert people to the condition of thousands of spans statewide.
Concerned that the collapse of the Fern Hollow Bridge in Pittsburgh and other bridge failures are not getting the attention they deserve, Sen. James Brewster, D-McKeesport, wants the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to create a searchable website that contains information about every bridge. It would also include quarterly updates on their conditions and ratings by whatever local government — county or city — owns the spans.
Under the plan, each local government would also be required to maintain its own separate public database with the same information in a show of transparency that could help the public better track deficiencies.
