Babar Azam
Biden visits site of Pittsburgh bridge collapse before speech on infrastructure
President Joe Biden made an unscheduled visit to the site of a bridge collapse in Pittsburgh on Friday afternoon, during a trip in which Biden planned to promote his legislative agenda — including the landmark infrastructure law he signed last year.
Pittsburgh Public Safety confirmed the collapse on Twitter before 7 a.m. ET, urging people to avoid the area around Forbes and Braddock avenues near Frick Park. Three people have been hospitalized with nonlife-threatening injuries, while authorities have been deployed to “ensure there are no victims under the collapsed bridge,” the city tweeted in an update later Friday morning.
The site of the collapse is just a few miles from Carnegie Mellon University at Mill 19, where Biden was set to deliver remarks around 2 p.m.
Biden spoke by phone Friday morning with Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, Sen. Bob Casey and Pittsburgh mayor Ed Gainey, according to Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who briefed reporters aboard Air Force One.
“The President is grateful to the first responders who rushed to assist the drivers who were on the bridge at the time,” the White House said in a statement Friday morning.
Biden’s speech is expected to focus on his administration’s progress in strengthening U.S. supply chains and boosting manufacturing levels.
