Bridge closure causes delay for schools

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

Public schools in Pittsburgh will operate on a two-hour delay today due to anticipated traffic congestion because of the closure of a major bridge into the downtown area.

Officials say the delay will place a majority of students on the road after morning rush hour, “reducing potentially long wait times for the district’s smallest students.”

Staff members were told to plan to arrive at the normal starting time.

The Liberty Bridge will be closed for at least this week after a fire that began on a construction tarp Friday afternoon. Crews had been cutting steel in the area as part of an $80 million reconstruction project.

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation officials said the blaze damaged a steel beam critical to the stability of the bridge, which spans the Monongahela River.