The Fern Hollow Bridge
At 6:39 a.m. on January 28, 2022, the 447-foot Fern Hollow Bridge on Forbes Avenue in Pittsburgh's Frick Park area collapsed approximately 100 feet into the park below. Six vehicles were on or near the bridge at the time. Four people sustained minor to moderate injuries. No one was killed. (NTSB)
The bridge had carried approximately 14,500 vehicles per day. It had been rated poor in the National Bridge Inventory since September 2011, more than 10 years before it fell. (FHWA NBI; NTSB)
The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable cause was the failure of a transverse tie plate on the southwest bridge leg due to extensive corrosion and section loss. Clogged drains caused water to run down bridge legs and accumulate with debris, preventing the formation of a protective weathering steel patina. The City of Pittsburgh repeatedly failed to act on maintenance and repair recommendations documented in inspection reports from 2005 through 2021. (NTSB Investigation HWY22MH003)
Contributing factors included non-compliant inspections by PennDOT contractors, failure to identify fracture-critical areas, inaccurate load rating calculations, and insufficient oversight at city, state, and federal levels. The NTSB issued 11 safety recommendations to FHWA, PennDOT, the City of Pittsburgh, and AASHTO. (NTSB)
President Biden visited Pittsburgh the day of the collapse. He had already been scheduled to visit for an infrastructure event. The replacement bridge was completed in under 11 months at a cost of approximately $25.3 million, funded through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The ribbon-cutting took place on December 21, 2022, and the bridge reopened to traffic on December 22. (PennDOT; FHWA)
Among the 15 states with the highest rates of poor bridges, Fern Hollow is the only one that actually collapsed. A bridge rated poor for a decade dropped 100 feet into a public park.
Statewide Snapshot
Pennsylvania has 23,314 bridges, the second-largest inventory in the country behind Illinois's 26,927. Of those, 2,813 are rated in poor condition, a rate of 12%. That is the second-highest raw count of poor bridges nationally, behind Iowa's 4,424. The national average poor rate is 6.7%. (ARTBA 2025)
In 2013, Pennsylvania's poor rate was 23%, the worst in the nation. A decade of aggressive investment cut that nearly in half. The state went from #1 (worst) to #6. The trajectory is real progress by any measure, and 2,813 bridges remain in poor condition. (ARTBA 2025; PennDOT)
The average Pennsylvania bridge is 55 years old. The average bridge in poor condition is 84. A typical design life is approximately 75 years. Every day, 10.1 million vehicles cross bridges rated in poor condition. (ARTBA 2025)
The average Pennsylvania bridge is 55. The average poor bridge is 84. With a typical design life of 75 years, the state's bridge stock is approaching a cliff where thousands of bridges will age past their design lives within the same decade. The statewide inventory is so large (23,314 bridges) that even replacing 200 per year would take more than a century to cycle through the full stock. That is 23,314 divided by 200: 116 years.
The full state profile is available on ARTBA's Pennsylvania bridge report.
Pennsylvania's Ownership Tangle
Pennsylvania's bridge network is split across multiple owners, and no single public source provides a clean statewide breakdown of poor bridges by owner type. PennDOT owns and maintains approximately 25,400 highway bridges using the broader 8-foot minimum length definition, and inspects roughly 18,000 of those under National Bridge Inspection Standards. The 25,400 figure is larger than ARTBA's 23,314 because PennDOT counts structures as short as 8 feet, while the NBI standard is 20 feet. (PennDOT; ARTBA 2025)
Approximately 6,600 locally owned bridges 20 feet and longer fall under PennDOT oversight but belong to counties and municipalities. PennDOT monitors inspection compliance for these structures. Local governments handle the maintenance. (PennDOT)
The PA Turnpike Commission owns and maintains its own bridge network along the 552-mile toll road system, separately from PennDOT. Turnpike bridges are included in the NBI totals. PennDOT operates through 11 engineering districts, each responsible for a geographic region. (PA Turnpike; PennDOT)
Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh, illustrates how fractured this system is. The county has 175 poor bridges: 97 are state-owned, 50 are municipally owned (including 22 belonging to the City of Pittsburgh), and 22 are county-owned. Three levels of government share responsibility within a single county, and Fern Hollow fell through all three. (FHWA NBI; PennDOT)
The Auditor General's Findings
In July 2024, Pennsylvania Auditor General Timothy DeFoor released a performance audit covering July 2020 through May 2023. The audit found inconsistent and incomplete bridge inspection reports, inspectors who did not meet minimum qualifications, and variable reporting of maintenance issues across districts. It produced 7 findings and 24 recommendations. (PA Auditor General)
The audit focused primarily on state-owned bridges but also examined PennDOT's oversight of locally owned inspections. The results raise a question that runs through the rest of this page: if the inspections that produce these numbers are themselves inconsistent, the true condition of the network may be worse than the data shows.
Where the Problem Is Worst
Western Pennsylvania and southeastern Pennsylvania concentrate the largest numbers of poor bridges by volume. The Pittsburgh metro area and the Philadelphia region together account for a substantial share of the statewide total. (ARTBA 2025; FHWA NBI)
| Region | Poor Bridges | % Poor | Key Context |
|---|---|---|---|
| Allegheny County (Pittsburgh) | 175 | 11% | 97 state, 50 municipal, 22 county |
| Philadelphia area (8 SE PA counties) | ~800 | 14% | Highest metro-area poor rate |
| Harrisburg area | N/A | 10% | State capital corridor |
| Statewide | 2,813 | 12% | 2nd-highest raw count nationally |
Rural Appalachian counties face compounding challenges: an aging bridge stock, lower tax bases, and heavy freight traffic from Marcellus Shale natural gas development. Fifteen percent of Pennsylvania's rural bridges are rated poor, the 5th highest rural poor rate nationally. (TRIP)
PennDOT maintains an interactive Bridge Conditions Map showing the location and condition of every inspected bridge in the state.
Act 89 and the Funding Machine
In 2013, Governor Tom Corbett signed Act 89, the largest transportation funding bill in Pennsylvania's history, with bipartisan support in the legislature. The law eliminated the flat 12-cent gas tax and uncapped the Oil Company Franchise Tax. It generates approximately $2.3 billion annually for transportation. (PennDOT; PA Legislature)
Pennsylvania's gas tax rose to 57.6 cents per gallon, among the highest in the nation. The diesel rate is 74.1 cents per gallon, the highest nationally. In Act 89's first full year (2014), more than $800 million of PennDOT's $2.4 billion budget came from Act 89 funds. (PennDOT)
The results are measurable. The statewide poor rate dropped from 23% to 12%. Pennsylvania went from the worst ranking in the nation to #6. The number of state-owned poor bridges fell from 6,034 in 2008 to approximately 2,058, and PennDOT has repaired or replaced more than 3,000 bridges since 2008. (PennDOT; ARTBA 2025)
The PA Turnpike Commission carries $17.43 billion in outstanding debt as of 2024, up 39% from $12.57 billion in 2017. Under Act 44 of 2007, the Turnpike is required to transfer $450 million annually to PennDOT for transportation projects. Despite the debt load, the Turnpike maintains AA credit ratings and refinanced $866 million in obligations in 2024. The result is a system where the Turnpike funds PennDOT's bridge work while managing its own substantial debt burden. (PA Turnpike; PennDOT)
The Major Bridge P3 Program targets six interstate bridges for rehabilitation. The original proposal included mandatory tolling, but Act 84 of 2022 eliminated mandatory tolling of existing free lanes. PennDOT pivoted to existing revenue streams. The contract was executed on November 29, 2022, with financial close on December 22, 2022, and final designs completed in September 2024. (PennDOT)
The Funding Cliff
TRIP projects that without additional funding, the poor rate could climb from 13% back to 17% by 2029. (TRIP uses a total of 22,043 bridges due to different counting methodology; its 13% figure is comparable to ARTBA's 12%.) Construction cost inflation is compounding the challenge: the FHWA National Highway Construction Cost Index rose 69% between early 2021 and 2024. Pennsylvania is spending more on bridges than at any point in its history, and cost inflation is eroding a significant share of that purchasing power. (TRIP; FHWA)
Federal Funding and the IIJA
Pennsylvania receives approximately $353.4 million annually through the IIJA Bridge Formula Program, the third-largest allocation nationally behind California and New York. Over five years, the state is set to receive roughly $1.6 billion in dedicated bridge funding. Federal funds support approximately 43% of PennDOT's highway and bridge improvement revenue. (FHWA; PennDOT)
At least 15% of Bridge Formula Program funds must go to off-system (locally owned) bridges, which are 100% federally funded under the program. This provision matters in a state with 6,600 locally owned bridges where municipalities often lack the resources to fund repairs independently. The Fern Hollow replacement, at $25.3 million, was an IIJA-funded project. (FHWA; PennDOT)
Governor Shapiro's 2024-25 budget included $80.5 million in new transportation funding. Acts 85 and 149 of 2024 establish an EV road user charge effective April 2025, an early step toward replacing gas tax revenue as the vehicle fleet electrifies. (PA Governor's Office)
What's Being Done
PennDOT has repaired or replaced more than 3,000 bridges since 2008. In Governor Shapiro's first year (2023), PennDOT reports repairing or replacing more than 200 bridges and reducing the number of poor-condition bridges by 90. Through October 2024, 401 state and locally owned bridges had been let for repair, replacement, or preservation. According to the Governor's office, the administration has improved 19,313 miles of roadway and advanced work on 1,661 bridges. (PennDOT; Governor's Office)
The Major Bridge P3 Program has six interstate bridges under contract with construction underway, the largest single bridge investment program in the state's history. (PennDOT)
The Inspection Quality Question
The Auditor General's July 2024 audit found inconsistent inspections, unqualified inspectors, and incomplete reporting. After the Fern Hollow collapse, additional scrutiny of Pittsburgh-area bridges resulted in more bridges being rated poor than before the collapse, according to PublicSource reporting. That pattern suggests increased scrutiny revealed problems that previous inspections had missed. (PA Auditor General; PublicSource)
The implication is straightforward. If inspection quality has been variable, and if closer inspection is revealing more problems, then the 2,813 poor bridges in the current inventory may represent a floor for the scope of the problem rather than a ceiling.
The Arithmetic
Pennsylvania has 23,314 bridges with an average age of 55 years and a design life of approximately 75. Even replacing 200 bridges per year, it would take 116 years to cycle through the full inventory. TRIP projects the poor rate could rise to 17% by 2029 without additional funding. Construction cost inflation, up 69% since early 2021 by the FHWA index, is eroding the state's purchasing power at the same time the need is growing. (ARTBA 2025; TRIP; FHWA)
TRIP estimates that deficient infrastructure costs Pennsylvania motorists $8.2 billion annually. Philadelphia-area drivers pay approximately $1,474 per year in additional vehicle operating costs from driving on deteriorating roads and bridges. (TRIP)
The question is not whether Pennsylvania is making progress. By the numbers, it is. The poor rate dropped from 23% to 12%, and more than 3,000 bridges have been repaired or replaced since 2008. The question is whether any state can keep up with 23,314 bridges aging simultaneously. Act 89 generated $2.3 billion per year. The gas tax is among the highest in the nation. The IIJA adds $353 million more annually. And the projected trajectory still points upward unless something changes. The arithmetic of 23,314 bridges is relentless.
What "Poor Condition" Means
A bridge is classified as being in "poor condition" if any one of its three primary components (deck, superstructure, or substructure) receives a rating of 4 or below on the NBI's 0-to-9 scale. A poor rating does not mean a bridge is unsafe or at risk of collapse. It means the bridge has deteriorated to the point where it needs repair or replacement. Bridges rated poor are typically subject to increased inspection frequency, load restrictions, or both.
Data Sources
Statewide totals (23,314 bridges, 2,813 poor, 12%, rank #6) are from the ARTBA 2025 Bridge Report, based on 2025 FHWA National Bridge Inventory data. TRIP uses a total of 22,043 bridges due to different counting methodology; where TRIP data is cited, the different total is noted. PennDOT's 25,400 figure uses a broader 8-foot minimum length definition and is noted only in the ownership section. Ownership and geographic data are from PennDOT and the FHWA NBI. The Fern Hollow investigation data is from NTSB Investigation HWY22MH003. Auditor General findings are from the July 2024 performance audit. Funding projections and cost data are from TRIP, FHWA, and PennDOT as cited inline.
TRIP vs. ARTBA Counts
This page uses ARTBA's 23,314 as the canonical bridge total throughout. TRIP counts 22,043 bridges due to different methodology for what qualifies as a bridge. The two totals are not directly comparable. When this page cites TRIP data (funding projections, cost estimates, rural bridge rates), the different counting basis is noted. No single comparison mixes the two totals.
Caveats
Bridge inspection practices and rating standards can vary by inspector and agency, a concern underscored by the Auditor General's 2024 findings. The NBI captures a snapshot in time; individual bridge conditions change between inspection cycles. Shapiro administration figures for bridges repaired and roadway improved are attributed to PennDOT or the Governor's office and are not independently verified in this page. Percentages are rounded to whole numbers except for the national average (6.7%), which is ARTBA's published figure.