The mangled mass of steel miraculously missed vehicles on the usually busy bridge
TARRYTOWN – Traffic on the Tappan Zee Bridge began to flow Tuesday evening, several hours after a large crane boom came crashing down across all lanes of the bridge.
One of the southbound lanes sustained damage on the surface and below, said Governor Andrew Cuomo, following inspections of the structure.
What caused the crane on the new bridge that is under construction to collapse and fall onto the adjacent old bridge is unknown. The crane holds up a vibrating hammer that weighs 121,000 pounds, said Tappan Zee Contractors’ President Terry Toule.
“Obviously it is one of three issues,” Toule said. “It is a problem the crane; it’s a problem with the hammer; or its operator error. That’s what the investigation will look at.”.
The hammer forces piles into the mud.
Cuomo was onsite after the incident and said he was amazed that five hours after the crash, the bridge was returning back to normal.
“This could have been a real tragedy and we could have had a real loss of life, so we say a special prayer and a special thanks, and to the first responders, this was a highly unusual situation,” the governor said. “The crane was collapsed across the entire bridge. It was a lot of machinery to move and this is literally within hours, the damage has been removed, the bridge has been reopened; the bridge has been inspected.”
There were two fender-benders when cars stopped right after the crane came down.
Only three workers sustained minor injuries.
Construction on the new bridge will continue as planned, said Toule.
