Another crawler down in New York

The lattice boom of a 300 tonne capacity crawler crane went down across all the lanes of the old Tappan Zee Bridge in New York, USA, on 19 July.

The Manitowoc MLC 300 was being used to help construct a new US$ 3.9 billion crossing of the Hudson River adjacent to the old one. It was set up on the new crossing. The work being carried out by the crane was pile driving with a vibratory hammer weighing 121,000 pounds (55 tonnes), Terry Towle, Tappan Zee Constructors president, said in news reports.

Traffic was halted across all lanes in both directions of the 3 mile (4.6 km) bridge and three people were injured in minor accidents.

Andrew Cuomo, New York Governor was quoted in press reports as saying, "Miraculously, there were no serious injuries. If you said to me that a boom could fall across the Tappan Zee Bridge at noon and not hit a car... I would not believe it."

The debris of the shattered boom was cleared in a few hours. What caused the relatively new crane’s boom to fall across the seven lane, 27 metre width of the old bridge is under investigation. Wind was not a factor, local news reported, and so the focus was on operator error or an equipment malfunction.

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