In February 1900, the "Councils of the city of Pittsburg" appropriated $100,000 for the construction of a street railway and highway bridge across Fern Hollow.

Hedgren received a cash prize award and a summary of his ideas on this bridge design was published in a collection of winners.

The rigid frame supports were inclined welded steel legs resting on reinforced concrete thrust blocks.

He had privately observed the bridge supports were "well rusted, which he presumed was because of a drainage problem where melting ice and snow with salt from maintenance was draining down onto the beams".

[24] Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire Chief Darryl Jones said it was very fortunate the collapse occurred before the morning rush hour.

[28] The initial rescue effort was completed by 8:30 a.m. EST while emergency personnel continued to check under the wreckage for any trapped victims;[1] none were found.

[25] A crane erected at Forbes and Briarcliff was used to retrieve the wrecked vehicles, and the bus (22 tons) was lifted from the site on January 31.

Local residents were evacuated from their homes in response to reports of a "massive leak" and strong scent of natural gas.

[26] The bus, PRT fleet number 3309,[32] was operating route 61B outbound from downtown Pittsburgh (eastbound), and had nearly reached the east end before the bridge began to collapse.

[33] After the collapse, first responders placed a ladder by the bus door, which Luciani and the two passengers aboard used to descend to the floor of the valley before walking up to Forbes.

[34] President Joe Biden had been scheduled to visit Pittsburgh on January 28 to speak about infrastructure at Carnegie Mellon University's Mill 19.

[1][26][35] After learning about the collapse, White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed via Twitter that Biden would continue with his planned speech to promote the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

[36] Biden visited the collapsed bridge at approximately 1:30 p.m., before his scheduled speech,[27] and told reporters that he intended to direct funding to repair all 43,000 bridges in the U.S.[2][27] Biden was accompanied by multiple Pennsylvania politicians, including Mayor Ed Gainey, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, Governor Tom Wolf, Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman, U.S.

[37] Shortly after the collapse, the National Transportation Safety Board announced it was sending a team led by Chair Jennifer Homendy to investigate the cause.

[14] Surveillance video recovered from the bus showed the bridge had already fallen off the western abutment when the eastern expansion joint began to separate.

[45] The 2023 NTSB report concluded that a lack of periodic maintenance by the city led to clogged drains that caused corrosion, a contributing factor for the collapse; documents also questioned PennDOT's bridge inspection procedures.

[46] On February 21, 2024, the NTSB released its final report, faulting both city and state inspection processes for lack of required maintenance, repairs, and eventual bridge closure.

"[57] City Controller Michael Lamb and Councilman Corey O'Connor joined the call to reconsider the initial design.