Construction on the bridge began in 2013, and though it has seen its share of terrifyingly large cranes, no bridge workers have died or sustained serious injuries so far.
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Otherwise, commuters are again crossing the bridge in both directions.
Crane safety began getting intense scrutiny in NY after a pair of disasters in 2008.
On Facebook, the Clarkstown Police Department said it expects the bridge to be closed for a few hours. “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”. The existing bridge is more than a half-century old. This is the bridge that is being replaced and we wanted to make sure that it was safe before we allowed cars to go over it. “We were very, very fortunate that the situation wasn’t worse”, Cuomo said. “At first I thought the bridge was collapsing because this is not a good bridge”. The operator of the crane also made it out safely. (Earlier reports had said two workers were hurt.) No cars were hit by the falling crane, though two cars got into a minor fender bender.
Update: After inspections on the Tappan Zee Bridge, as of 5:15 p.m. the three northbound lanes have reopened.
Helicopter video showed the collapsed crane stretching across all six lanes of the bridge, which spans Rockland and Westchester counties.
It had been on a new bridge that’s under construction alongside the old bridge.
The malfunction occurred in one of 28 cranes now constructing an adjacent bridge expected be complete in 2018. Rockland County officials said that the crash damaged the bridge, creating a hole in its deck. It toppled over onto the old bridge around noon, bringing traffic to a halt. No vehicles were struck by the fallen crane.
Tappan ZEExpress bus service between Rockland and Westchester counties resumed shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday and is back on its normal schedule.
Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner said that there obviously has to be a review as to the oversight on the massive project. The county executive tweeted that the crane operator was shaken but not hurt.
“It is a routine task”, said Terry Towle, president of Tappan Zee construction.
There were two fender-benders when cars stopped right after the crane came down.
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Traffic was shut down in both directions, officials said, and one ambulance transporting a victim even became stalled in the gridlock, New York’s Pix 11 reported. It is being built alongside the original Tappan Zee, which dates to 1955.
