Most of those photos don't do it justice, they make it look like a few meters of concrete block over a stream.

This is the only one that shows the scale: https://assets-varnish.triblive.com/2022/01/4691113_web1_ptr...

This one is another great shot for scale: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FKMeYsZXEAYzpan?format=jpg&name=...

[from: https://twitter.com/shadow/status/1487065719028207627/photo/...]

It is a "major" bridge. I've driven over it more than a thousand times, given that it was on my commute route for several years of my career. Had this collapsed at rush hour, 5pm, two of four lanes would have been filled with cars backed up waiting in traffic.

The best photo I can find of it to see the scale:

https://twitter.com/shadow/status/1487051654121807875/photo/...

It is the bridge on the bottom.

This image from Streetview, taken about halfway across the bridge, shows the scale well, I think: https://www.google.com/maps/@40.439515,-79.9004771,3a,75y,99...

It's major for impact. This bridge carries a significant thoroughfare between two of the neighborhoods on the edge of town. It's a primary avenue for several bus routes.

Traffic is going to be an absolute nightmare until they restore it.

2025

Properly maintained bridges of any size shouldn’t randomly collapse. It’s always major.

Maybe it's the weird capitalization, or that I'm not a native English speaker, but "Major Bridge Collapses" to me sounds like the title of something. Aka a list of collapses, a book, long article about some history or whatever. Not something happening right now. So to me the title was underwhelming, not an exaggeration, because of that misunderstanding.

Since the phrase is an article title it follows the capitalization rules. It does get confusing with proper nouns sometimes, so there is a slight ambiguity. In this case it's probably also confusing that the ending of collapse is the same for plural and different tenses.

It is very major. There are only 3 roads that cross this (nearly 3 mile) ravine that cuts off a huge portion of the city's population: a local 2-lane neighborhood road, Forbes (this bridge), and the limited access interstate.

Maybe not major for Pittsburgh, land of bridges, but sure would be major elsewhere. The thing is huge!

Looks pretty big to me. Granted, it's not the Mississippi but as long as an articulated bus is involved with lots more "bridge" that felt I'd say is pretty big.

It only goes over a little creek. Not even a river.

A 150+ ft deep ravine, according to the article:

> Jones estimated that rescue crews had to rappel 100 to 150 feet down the ravine to rescue motorists.

It’s probably a 50-60 ft ravine and the bridge was probably 200ft long (these are guesstimates from just being around it).

Edit: I just checked - it was 447 feet. Height is probably right, but I might be under by a bit.

I used to live two blocks from this bridge. At evening rush hour it’s bumper to bumper traffic

Not as bad as like the fort Pitt bridge collapsing or something, but still a big deal

I also think the bridge is pretty high up, I'd say around 40-50 feet high.

Thankfully below it was a nature trail. Could have been worse if it was one of the bridges over the rivers or highways.

Thankfully there didn't seem to be anyone on the trail! That is a heavily trafficked trail during the day, and there is a dog park in the shadow of the bridge. I use that trail all the time to access the mountain bike trails that Frick Park has.

Seriously! I imagine if this was the summer some would be out.