'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
The half-century-old bridge that collapsed in Pittsburgh on Friday ahead of U.S. President Joe Biden's visit highlighted the perilous state of much of the United States' transportation infrastructure, which is due to get a trillion-dollar infusion over the coming years.
Like nearly 44,000 other spans nationwide, the Fern Hollow Bridge in Pittsburgh is rated in poor condition, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation's 2021 national inventory.
Ten people sustained minor injuries when the snow-covered span collapsed into a wooded gully around 6 a.m. (1100 GMT), authorities said. Several nearby homes were temporarily evacuated after a massive natural gas leak caused by the collapse, which was brought under control.
Built in 1970, the four-lane bridge carries an average of 14,500 vehicles per day along Forbes Avenue, one of the city's main arteries, according to Transportation Department data.
It is one of 31 bridges in the city rated in poor condition.
"We're going to fix them all," Biden said on a visit to the collapse site.
Pittsburgh City Council member Corey O'Connor said the damage could have been worse. "If it was rush hour, we would be looking at a couple hundred cars down in that valley," he told CNN.
A "poor" rating does not necessarily mean a bridge is at risk of collapsing, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers, but it does mean they should be inspected regularly. The collapsed bridge was inspected last September, the city's fire chief told reporters.
Biden's $1 trillion infrastructure spending package, the largest such investment in decades, is already providing billions of dollars for upgrades to bridges, roads and transit.
The Transportation Department announced earlier this month that it was distributing US$5.3 billion to states for bridge repair, a dramatic increase over previous years.
Pennsylvania got the third-largest share, a total of $327 million. The state is a political battleground and played a key role in Biden's 2020 presidential victory. All 10 of the state's Democratic lawmakers in the Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives voted for the infrastructure package, and nine out of Pennsylvania's 10 Republicans voted against it.
The money will come in handy.
Roughly 11% of the Northeastern state's 30,000 bridges are in poor condition, according to the national inventory, nearly twice the national average. Those bridges handle 5% of daily traffic in Pennsylvania.
The state's bridges were given a grade of D-plus by the civil engineering society in a 2018 report. Its roads and sewer, water, and transit systems also received low marks.
The society said the state had made progress since approving a fuel-tax hike in 2013 to fund repairs. The group praised Pennsylvania's bridge-inspection program, which it said exceeded federal standards.
Pittsburgh, a hilly city of about 300,000 people located at the confluence of three major rivers, has 732 bridges within city limits, which Biden said was more than any other city in the world. Roughly 4% of them are in poor condition.
City officials have pressed the Transportation Department to make it easier to lower speed limits and improve pedestrian safety.
Karina Ricks, the city's former transportation director, took a senior job last year with the Federal Transit Administration.
(Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Police are searching for a male suspect after a man was “slashed in neck” on Sunday morning in downtown Toronto and died.
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.
English, history, entertainment, math and geography: high school trivia teams could be quizzed on any of it when they compete at the Reach for the Top Nationals in Ottawa in June.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.