How an app is helping Pgh residents avoid dodgy infrastructure

Increased attention has been paid to Pittsburgh’s infrastructure following the collapse of the Fern Hollow Bridge at Frick Park. But given that the city boasts 446 bridges (well, 445 now) it can be difficult for residents to track down data on the ones they cross the most.

A new citizen-created app called Bad Bridges has just debuted to help with this and give some peace of mind to anxious commuters.

Software engineer Rainy Sinclair posted the app, which they built on Glitch.com, a free tool they describe as letting users “really easily create web apps that do pretty much anything you want.” They debuted the app on Feb. 22 with a tweet that reads, “Pittsburgh people! Have you recently started wondering how many structurally deficient bridges you regularly cross over? Well, I made a thing that can tell you.”