Biden visits scene of collapsed bridge, vows to fix creaky infrastructure

PITTSBURGH • US President Joe Biden stopped to look at a Pittsburgh bridge that collapsed just hours before he arrived for a scheduled visit to the city, dramatically underscoring the urgency of his drive to rebuild the country's creaky infrastructure.

Visibly moved, Mr Biden gazed across a ravine over the buckled sections of the half-century-old Fern Hollow Bridge on Friday, flanked by Pennsylvania and local officials and emergency workers as he surveyed the damage.

"The idea that we have been so far behind on infrastructure, for so many years - it's just mind-boggling," the President told them.

Images of the collapse showed the four-lane span buckled into three large sections, with vehicles piled in the rubble of the collapsed roadway at the bottom of the ravine. Mr Biden praised the work of rescuers, while noting a natural gas leak that was not stopped until some 30 minutes after first responders arrived at the scene.

Rescuers rappelled at least 46m into Fern Hollow, and used ropes to pull people to safety, said Pittsburgh fire chief Darryl Jones.

Ten people suffered minor injuries, including four who were taken to the hospital, officials said. Mr Jones said crews would search under the bridge for any victims.

The incident was a high-profile example of the need to rebuild the nation's ageing bridges, highways and other infrastructure with money from a US$1 trillion (S$1.35 trillion) spending Bill that was a signature achievement of Mr Biden's first year in office.

Mr Biden said he was astonished to learn Pittsburgh had more bridges than any city in the world. "And we're going to fix them all," he said before leaving the site.

REUTERS