Rusty condition of train bridge that travels over Parkway West draws concern

A railroad bridge, spanning over the Parkway in Carnegie, is drawing concern from the public as visible rust and pieces can be seen hanging from the bridge.

KDKA Investigates has received several concerns about the integrity of the bridge, leading to an eight-month investigation into how safe the bridge is.

"It needs to be redone, but whether the railroad or whatever, you know, it always takes a catastrophe for anything to get done, no matter what it is," Joe Marnik, the owner of Joe's Auto Classics in Carnegie, said.

In December, KDKA Investigates began looking into the condition of the railroad bridge, better known as Whiskey Run Viaduct, that travels over I-376 in Carnegie.

According to PennDOT, approximately 87,000 vehicles travel the Parkway under the bridge daily.

Video captured by KDKA-TV shows the bridge has holes, rust chipping away and pieces dangling or that have fallen to the ground below.

According to the Federal Railroad Administration, the safety of individual railroad bridges, including their inspection, maintenance, and repair, is the responsibility of the track owner.

In this case, Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway Company owns the bridge.

KDKA Investigates sent the company an email in December to ask about the condition of the bridge, inspection reports and if they had plans to repair/replace the bridge.

We followed up with the company in January along with sending a formal request for information. Three months later, that request for information was denied. KDKA Investigates reached out again in June. We never got a response from anyone within the company.

PennDOT said it has no oversight over the bridge, only when or if repairs could impact traffic.

"It's frightening. And I'm sure the people that travel it feel the same way," Marnik said.

Marnik said he's seen crews from time to time looking at the bridge and shared concerns with others as to if it's structurally sound.

KDKA Investigates reached out to U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, showing him video we captured of the rusted bridge.

"Anyone who's ridden the parkway there has seen this. It looks terrible," Deluzio said.

Because Deluzio is an elected official, his office is allowed to request and obtain summaries of railroad inspection reports, but the information is limited.

"I want to have a very different regime where the public can get access to these reports whenever they want, so that experts can look at this and see if things are safe," Deluzio said.

Deluzio has spent years pushing for local rail safety after the train derailment in East Palestine.

During our interview, Deluzio said it's unclear what the trains going over the bridge in Carnegie are carrying.

"We know they carry dangerous stuff. We should have some confidence that their infrastructure is safe, and that they have to operate safely when they're putting chemicals and things like that through our communities," Deluzio said.

His office requested the inspection report from Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway Company in June.

In August, KDKA Investigates received a copy of the report that showed the last annual inspection was on Feb. 22, 2026.

According to the report, the condition of the bridge showed that "the bridge is confirmed to have the capacity to safely carry traffic being operated over the bridge."

Deluzio's office reported that a special inspection was also conducted in mid-December after the railroad received inquiries about its condition.

Our cameras also caught crews working on the bridge at the end of July.  

"It shouldn't just be railroads regulating themselves. If someone is reporting something unsafe, has some evidence of that, the Department of Transportation then has to take action, because again, the current regime is the railroads inspecting themselves," Deluzio said.

Deluzio said he and other members of Congress are pushing for transparency and are working to change the law so bridge inspection records can be available to anyone.

"Local officials are not armed to even get this information. That's part of the problem. I can't just happen to be a member of Congress requesting this. Media should be able to get these reports. Local officials should be able to get these reports. PennDOT should be able to get these reports," Deluzio said.

KDKA Investigates talked to a local structural engineer about the condition of the bridge to learn more.

"I can understand that the public has concerns with all the rust, and there are some holes. Those holes we call section loss, you know, when you have a hole, it's 100% section loss," said Gary Miller, a professional engineer with Gary J. Miller Structural Engineering Services.

Miller said the more than 120-year-old bridge hasn't had a paint job since it was built but said it was designed to withstand a certain amount of rust and believes the section loss is not compromising its structural capacity.

"They will keep replacing small parts, welding in new plates, and keep doing this, and to a point where the repair becomes so prohibitive, as far as expense-wise, they might consider replacing them, but I don't see that happening in the next 20 to 40 years, quite honestly, they're so overdesigned," Miller said.

Video from the KDKA Drone Team also captured footage directly underneath parts of the bridge to give Miller another perspective.

"I wanted to see close-up shots to the main load-bearing members directly underneath the bridge and see whether there was high degrees of section loss that would weaken it, and I didn't see that. I just saw surface rust," Miller said.

As for the pieces that are broken or have fallen to the ground, Miller said they're not primary load-bearing members but were there for bracing as a secondary member.

"Overall, right now, I don't have anxieties driving under the bridge of seeing what I'm seeing at this point," Miller said.

Deluzio's office reached out to the railway company in July to learn what crews were doing on the bridge when our cameras captured them working. We're waiting to hear back.