In KCK, Buttigieg promotes need for bridge repairs just hours after Pittsburgh collapse

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg promoted the funding for bridge safety included in the new federal infrastructure law during a visit to Kansas City, Kan., on Friday, just hours after a bridge collapse in Pittsburgh.

Missouri and Kansas will receive $96.9 million and $45 million respectively over the next year under the new law to help fix thousands of bridges in need of repair — including some likely comparable to Pittsburgh’s 50-year-old Forbes Avenue Bridge.

“We’re thinking of those injured by the collapse and we’re thankful that so far there have been no fatalities reported. But it is a very blunt reminder, among many reminders, of just how urgent the need is to invest in American infrastructure,” Buttigieg said during a news conference.

The bridge funding had been previously announced. But the collapse in Pittsburgh underscored the real-world consequences of decay. Ultimately, Missouri is set to receive $484 million and Kansas is set to receive $225 million for bridge repairs over the next five years under the infrastructure law, passed by a bipartisan coalition in Congress and signed by President Joe Biden in November.

Buttigieg, speaking about the Pittsburgh collapse, said the “bottom line” was that “this shouldn’t happen in the United States of America.”

“We are seeing before our eyes in very blunt terms what the cost could be of disinvestment in our bridges,” Buttigieg said.

Kansas has 1,321 bridges in poor condition, 13th most of any state, according to the 2020 National Bridge Inventory. Missouri has 2,190 bridges in poor condition, the fifth most of any state.

In the Kansas City area, the Central Avenue Bridge over the Kansas River was closed in February 2021 for fear of failure.

“We need to get to work right away and instead of wringing our heads about it, we’re actually doing it because we have these dollars,” Buttigieg said.

Buttigieg, joined by local and state officials, spoke Friday near the currently unused Rock Island Bridge and the Avenida Cesar E Chavez Bridge. Rep. Sharice Davids, a Democrat representing Kansas’s 3rd Congressional District, said the Chavez bridge has been doing “overtime” because of the Central Avenue closure.

“It needs modernization to keep up with the demand and we’re going to need to add and want to add bike and pedestrian accessibility,” Davids said.

Davids, a vocal supporter of the infrastructure law, has held a series of events to tout the funding available to the region. Earlier Friday, she guided a roundtable discussion with Buttigieg and local business, political and civic leaders at the University of Kansas Medical Center Health Education Building.

Speaking near the Rock Island Bridge, Davids spoke about its future potential. Plans are underway to redevelop the 1905-era bridge into an events venue with bars and restaurants.

“This is going to bring even more of that life and culture and vibrancy … to our cross-state connection that we’ve got,” Davids said.

The Star’s Daniel Descrochers contributed reporting