Transportation officials announced Tuesday night that six of the seven lanes on the bridge had reopened ahead of schedule and that the one remaining southbound lane would remain closed until further notice.
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Mike Matza was driving a Porco Energy Truck with 270 barbecue tanks – some of which were filled – when the crane crashed onto the bridge from a new construction just alongside it, halting traffic in both directions, NBC reported. No vehicles were struck by the fallen crane. Part of the toppled crane lay across the lanes of the old bridge.
The malfunction occurred in one of 28 cranes now constructing an adjacent bridge expected be complete in 2018.
The crane collapse was only the latest mishap tied to the $3.9 billion replacement of the Hudson River span, which was built in 1955.
Traffic was light at the time, according to Cuomo.
“Miraculously, there were no serious injuries”, said Cuomo, who briefed reporters at the scene.
No cars were hit by the crane’s arm as it came down around noon, but Rockland County Executive Ed Day wrote on Twitter that three people suffered minor injuries when vehicles swerved and stopped to avoid the wreckage.
Cuomo said the crane that collapsed was using a vibratory hammer to drive in pilings when it “had an issue” that caused it to fall onto the existing bridge nearby.
“I like to say that when things are at their worst New Yorkers are at their best, and today they were”, he said. This was not one of the high-risk operations of bridge building, ” Cuomo said. “You have the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge and you have the Bear Mountain Bridge, all of which could be used as alternatives to the Tappan Zee”. About 138,000 cars cross the Tappan Zee Bridge daily.
One motorist, Atabey Sanchez, who was heading home to Providence, Rhode Island, was stuck on the bridge for two hours.
Drivers trying to avoid the Tappan Zee Bridge can head north to the Bear Mountain Bridge or south to the George Washington Bridge. The bridge will reopen after it has been inspected, which Cuomo said will take “several” hours.
Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner said that there obviously has to be a review as to the oversight on the massive project.
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In a separate report from the Inquisitr that was written before the recent construction began, the Tappan Zee Bridge Dangler Michael Davitt even tied a rope to himself and hung suspended from the bridge in an attempt to draw attention to political corruption.
