SQUIRREL HILL RESIDENT CHRIS ZURAWSKY STANDS ON THE EASTERN END OF THE PANTHER HOLLOW BRIDGE, WHICH HAS BEEN CLOSED SINCE OCT. 19, 2024 FOR STRUCTURAL ISSUES. | PHOTO BY AMAYA LOBATO RIVAS / NEXT GENERATION NEWSROOM

With no reopening date set for Oakland’s Panther Hollow Bridge, residents in the path of detours want help to keep their streets safe.

Chris Zurawsky of Squirrel Hill has led the charge in requesting measures, including speed bumps, additional signs for pedestrian crossings, and more police to monitor traffic.

“Nothing’s been done, nothing’s been put in place to manage the traffic or to minimize it,” said Zurawsky, who lives on Darlington Road, a cut-through for drivers trying to avoid the traffic on the short stretch of Forbes Avenue between Schenley Drive and Wightman Street. “If it was such an emergency to close the bridge, there should have been some serious consideration given to what the impact of the detour would be.”

Officials abruptly closed the bridge to vehicle traffic, located between Schenley Park and Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, on Oct. 19, citing structural concerns. Detour routes use Schenley Drive and Wightman, Beacon and Hobart streets.

The 129-year-old bridge had been an alternate route for Eastbound motorists who could no longer use the nearby Charles Anderson Bridge on the Boulevard of the Allies, which the city had closed in October 2023 because of its own structural problems. The Anderson bridge — which carried 20,000 vehicles a day — is being rehabilitated and is not expected to reopen until fall 2026.

Council member Barb Warwick for District 5, home of the Panther Hollow Bridge, has been responsive to concerns, Zurawsky said, but he hasn’t seen the improvements that residents requested.

Warwick said that while she is pushing for temporary measures, such as a four-way stop, the city’s Vision Zero initiative means the focus is on areas where the most serious crashes happen. Vision Zero is a plan to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries, announced last year by Mayor Ed Gainey.

“I understand that the neighborhood would like a large-scale traffic calming project in there, but we’re doing our large traffic calming projects based on the Vision Zero data,” she said.

The city is still trying to understand the problems with Panther Hollow Bridge, and Warwick said she has worked with the Department of Public Safety “to secure regular traffic enforcement along the detour to help manage the influx of new traffic, and with the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure as they adjust the timing at some signals along the detour to help all road users stay safe.”

DOMI “has been working with an engineering consultant in the design of repairs and will refine the plan with the latest information provided by the bridge inspectors,” said Jacob Williams, a spokesperson for DOMI and the city’s Department of Public Work.

He could not give a timeline as to when the bridge will reopen.

ONE OF THE BRONZE PANTHERS — DESIGNED BY ITALIAN ARTIST GIUSEPPE MORETTI — THAT STAND AT THE CORNERS OF THE PANTHER HOLLOW BRIDGE. THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN SHORTLY AFTER THE BRIDGE WAS CLOSED IN OCTOBER. | PHOTO BY VIRGINIA LINN

“We proactively closed the bridge to vehicular traffic out of an abundance of caution after our inspection consultant on contract by PennDOT identified issues while updating an on-going bridge load rating analysis,” Williams said.

That analysis prompted the need for a more hands-on inspection, which is made more complicated when the bridge is closed to vehicles, he said. Inspectors certified in rope-access climbing were on site last week, he added.

PennDOT examined the bridge and recommended it be closed for repairs, but the state agency has concluded its major involvement in the effort, spokesperson Nicole Haney said.

Bridges have been a major concern for city officials since the Fern Hollow Bridge collapsed in January 2022.

The bridge, which served as a major connection between Downtown and communities such as Regent Square, Edgewood and Wilkinsburg, reopened 11 months after the collapse.

The infrastructure disaster galvanized local support for infrastructure upgrades, leading to Gainey’s development of the Bridge Asset Management Program, which monitors the structural integrity of city-owned bridges.

Abigail Hakas is a reporter for Next Generation Newsroom, part of the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University. Reach her at abigail.hakas@pointpark.edu. Amaya Lobato Rivas, a senior at the University of Pittsburgh is a photojournalist intern in the newsroom. Reach her at amaya.lobato@pointpark.edu. Colleen Hammond, former reporter for the Next Generation Newsroom, contributed to this report.