Laurels & lances: Bridges and brick walls
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Laurel: To an end in sight. The year started with a bang — literally. It was Jan. 28, and the president was on his way to talk about infrastructure when a very public example of why it was important occurred in Pittsburgh. The Fern Hollow Bridge in Frick Park collapsed, taking a bus and other vehicles to the bottom of the ravine it crossed.
Building a bridge can be a lengthy process. Replacing one can take even longer as alternate spans are constructed or lanes are switched. Even less extensive repairs or improvements can seem to take forever. Ask the people of the Alle-Kiski Valley who dealt with the $3.24 million rehabilitation of the Tarentum Bridge in 2021.
But the attention-gathering collapse of the Fern Hollow Bridge removed those roadblocks. The spotlight made it a priority. The planning and replacement were fast-tracked. The funding was available — hey, President Joe Biden was right there to talk about the need to pay for bridge repairs, so $25.3 million came from the federal bill.
Now, PennDOT says the new bridge will be open by the end of the year — possibly by Christmas.
“It’s amazing what we can do in true emergency situations,” said Maria Montaño, a spokeswoman for Mayor Ed Gainey.
It is startling what can be done with enough money and pressure to accomplish the near impossible. But officials from Gainey’s office to Biden’s should be aware that the spotlight won’t go away with the detour. This bridge will always be a symbol of what can happen when infrastructure isn’t a priority.
Lance: To different standards. The dozens of Springdale High School students who staged a walkout last week are being disciplined, and they aren’t happy about it.
The students were protesting what they call a severe teacher shortage. Nov. 23 was the last day of class before Thanksgiving break, so they used that day to walk out a bit early to call attention to the problem. Was this permitted? No. School code clearly says this will be subject to disciplinary action, and the principal underscored that with a Nov. 22 letter to families.
Students are being disciplined, which is creating more controversy as they now see it unfair that they are being punished for asking for an education, but that could be up to interpretation.
What could be considered is whether the district is being unfair in holding the students to the letter of the rules while skirting its own obligations to be transparent. Officials won’t comment on the situation other than to say they are following the code of conduct. The board president and vice president did not respond to requests for comment.