Both lanes of traffic on New York’s I-87/I-287 highway, crossing the Tappan Zee Bridge, were shut down Tuesday when a Manitowoc MLC 300 crawler crane collapsed and fell into traffic.
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Six of the seven lanes on the Tappan Zee Bridge were reopened at about 8p last night following a mid-day construction crane collapse on Tues July 19.
“If you said to me that a boom could fall across the Tappan Zee Bridge at noon, not hit a auto…”
He added: “It shook the whole bridge”.
A construction crane collapsed across all traffic lanes of the Tappan Zee Bridge on Tuesday, July 19, 2016. “It’s a problem with the crane, a problem with the hammer or it’s operator error, and that’s what the investigation will show”, says Terry Towle, of Tappan Zee Constructors.
Three people were injured yesterday when two cars crashed while attempting to avoid the collapsing crane, and one bridge worker also sustained minor injuries.
Everybody was OK but stranded.
The crane was one of 28 used in the construction of a new bridge that would replace the original which opened in 1955. Road plates were able to cover other minor damage in the southbound lanes.
The base and treads of the movable crane sat on the unfinished new bridge.
The crane ripped a “punch through” hole in the outside lane on the Westchester-bound side of the bridge, causing a break in the external guard rail and structural damage underneath that would require significant repairs, according to Cuomo and Rockland County Executive Ed Day.
The new Tappan Zee Bridge, which will feature eight lanes and a bike lane as well as a pedestrian path, is expected to be completed by 2018 at a cost of $3.9 billion.
In March, a 90-foot tugboat sank after it hit a construction barge near the bridge site, killing three crew members. The victims’ families, however, attributed the crash mainly to bad lighting on the barge.
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