PennDOT selects team to replace Fern Hollow Bridge, says some demolition could start this weekend
By ED BLAZINA Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has chosen the team that will design and build the replacement for the collapsed Fern Hollow Bridge, and some demolition work could begin this weekend.
PennDOT District Executive Cheryl Moon-Sirianni said Friday that international design firm HDR will design the new bridge on Forbes Avenue above Frick Park in Point Breeze, and Swank Construction Co. of New Kensington will be the general contractor. The companies were chosen without bids under emergency declarations by the state and the city of Pittsburgh after the old bridge collapsed Jan. 28, injuring 10 people.
“We’ve worked with both of these firms before, and we thought they would work well together,” Ms. Moon-Sirianni said.
HDR, which has a Pittsburgh office, was involved in designing emergency repairs to the Liberty Bridge after it caught fire during rehabilitation in 2016. Swank was the general contractor for the innovative replacement of the Shaler Street Bridge in 2019 when crews built the new bridge in a nearby parking lot and moved it into place over Route 19/51 near the West End Bridge in Pittsburgh.
Initially, Swank crews will work with the National Transportation Safety Board, which is still investigating the scene, Ms. Moon-Sirianni said. That work could include the beginning of demolition this weekend.
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