Bus Gets Stuck In Hole

 

 

Friday night (September 26, 2014) around 10pm the 61a came down 6th avenue picked people up as it always does, then started to go through the light when the back tire was swallowed by a hole in the street. On 6th avenue and wood Street a crew was working on a pipe line going across 6th avenue earlier in the day. The work crew left the hole in the ground to come back on Monday to finish working. They put a steal metal sheet over the hole and what looked like tar around the outside edges of the metal sheet to the street to hold it down and keep it from moving. However the tar around the medal sheet came loose due to the heavy traffic that 6th avenue is known for. With cars, pedestrians and a lot of buses all day long as well as at night this sheet of metal may have been better sucrued to be able to stay in place. When the 61a went over the metal sheet it slipped out from over the hole and the bus tire fell into the four foot hole. There was only one person on the bus that was shook up and not really hurt but was taken to the hospital anyway by Pittsburgh EMS to be checked out. Pittsburgh fire department and Port Authority police responded to the scene and had the road blocked off from 6th Avenue and Smithfield to 6th avenue and Wood street for about two hours. That made it difficult for some people to get the buses that they needed, not really causing to much difficulty for cars and other traffic to get around the scene. Public works had to be called to block off the hole on 6th Avenue with wooden horses and caution tape, until the authorities could reach someone from the crew who was working at that location. With some damage to the underbody of the bus it could not be driven safely so Port Authority workers towed the bus away and took it to one of their garages to be inspected and accessed for more damages and repairs. The next afternoon a work crew showed up and covered the hole with two metal sheets that more-then enough covered the hole. The men pinned the sheets down with what they call eye bolts on every corner of both sheets and then put asphalt down around them. There was no comment from Port Authority nor was there a comment by the crew who was doing the work.
By J.L. Martello / 18ricco©