Residents Voice Frustration Over Bridge Delays

October 02, 2025 |

By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News

The Versailles Avenue Viaduct was closed in February 2022, less than two weeks after a similar bridge collapsed in Pittsburgh’s Frick Park. (Tube City Almanac file photo)

City residents vented frustrations Wednesday night at a public hearing to discuss the replacement of the Versailles Avenue Viaduct.

A standing-room-only meeting in council chambers became contentious, as citizens questioned why government agencies moved so quickly to replace other bridges — notably the Fern Hollow Bridge in Pittsburgh — while McKeesport will have to wait until 2027.

The Versailles Avenue span was closed in 2022, less than week after the Fern Hollow Bridge collapsed, after an engineer’s report concluded the bridge was no longer safe for travel. A new Fern Hollow Bridge, which carries 14,000 vehicles a day, opened less than a year later.