{"id":105432,"date":"2026-02-05T00:50:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T00:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/105432\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T00:50:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T00:50:09","slug":"city-of-pittsburgh-demolishes-pedestrian-bridge-in-brighton-heights-closed-for-nearly-10-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/105432\/","title":{"rendered":"City of Pittsburgh demolishes pedestrian bridge in Brighton Heights closed for nearly 10 years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/274f52dbbf96fc96abc4b95eaf28e63a.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The City of Pittsburgh has demolished a pedestrian bridge in Brighton Heights.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Department of Mobility and Infrastructure (DOMI) said it has finished tearing down the long-closed Wilksboro Bridge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Crews used heavy equipment to collapse the structure on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The bridge was closed in 2007 because of safety concerns.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cDOMI\u2019s Bridge Asset Management Program provides the framework to ensure every City-owned bridge operates safely, that essential maintenance is being performed in a timely manner and resources are allocated responsibly to minimize the burden on residents,\u201d said Zachary Workman, P.E., deputy chief engineer for DOMI. \u201cDemolishing the Wilksboro Avenue pedestrian bridge in a controlled manner today saves on future inspection and maintenance and allows for City staff to focus on comprehensive rehabilitation projects currently in design for dozens of bridges across the city.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The bridge was built in 1895 and spanned 367 feet across a ravine. The city said pedestrians used the bridge to get to the trolley line on California Avenue. The foot traffic allegedly decreased over the years ahead of the closure.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">City officials said this development is part of the Bridge Asset Management Program that was developed after the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse in 2022.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Residents are encouraged to stay away from the area as a contractor works to remove debris.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Download the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/mobile-apps\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:FREE WPXI News app;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">FREE WPXI News app<\/a> for breaking news alerts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Follow Channel 11 News on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/wpxi\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Facebook;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Facebook<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WPXI\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Twitter;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Twitter<\/a>. | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/video\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Watch WPXI NOW;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Watch WPXI NOW<\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The City of Pittsburgh has demolished a pedestrian bridge in Brighton Heights. The Department of Mobility and Infrastructure&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":105433,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[50941,8635,2697,5642,50940,73,75,74,50942],"class_list":{"0":"post-105432","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh","8":"tag-bridge-asset-management-program","9":"tag-brighton-heights","10":"tag-city-of-pittsburgh","11":"tag-domi","12":"tag-pedestrian-bridge","13":"tag-pittsburgh","14":"tag-pittsburgh-headlines","15":"tag-pittsburgh-news","16":"tag-zachary-workman"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}