February
12, 2015
SECAUCUS,
N.J. (AP) — Workers have finished emergency repairs on a major New Jersey
highway that leads toward the Lincoln Tunnel after an unusual accident.
Authorities
say a tractor-trailer was traveling east on Route 3 in Secaucus when it appears
sections of a large construction crane struck the Paterson Plank Road overpass
Wednesday.
Pieces
of steel fell on a van, trapping and seriously injuring its driver and a
passenger. The van then hit one of the pillars.
Emergency
responders were able to free the people in the van. They, along with the truck
driver, were treated at hospitals. Their conditions were not released.
The
crash forced officials to shut down all the eastbound Route 3 express lanes and
one westbound express lane, causing major travel delays. The westbound lane was
later reopened.
Workers
completed an emergency concrete deck repair Early Thursday.
//______________________________________________//
2 seriously injured after tractor-trailer rams Route 3 low clearance overpass in Secaucus
A
flatbed truck carrying what appeared to be sections of a large construction
crane rammed a bridge over Route 3 in Secaucus on Wednesday, seriously injuring
at least two people and causing widespread traffic backups.
The
large pieces of steel dropped from the truck and fell on a van, pinning the
van’s driver and passenger, said Secaucus Mayor Michael Gonnelli, who reported
to the scene as a firefighter.
Officials
did not release the names of the passenger or either driver.
“It
was pretty much a miracle that they even survived.” Gonnelli said. “I’ve been a
fireman for 40 years and I’ve seen a lot of bad accidents, but I’ve never seen
a crane on top of a van under a bridge.”
The
accident, which happened around 12:15 p.m., tied up traffic for miles with
delays lasting into the evening rush hour. Emergency construction projects had
already brought lane and bridge closures to the area, and a new one was
announced Wednesday night when state Department of Transportation officials
said they would close one lane of I-495 heading toward the Lincoln Tunnel.
The
semi was traveling east on Route 3 when its load struck girders underneath a
bridge that takes Paterson Plank Road over the six-lane state highway. The
truck came to a stop a few hundred feet past the bridge, in the middle lane,
where the bridge clearance is marked 13 feet, 10 inches.
Three
large sections of the crane fell off the flatbed. Two came to rest on the road,
but one fell on top of a white Chevrolet work van that had been traveling
behind the semi. The van’s driver and passenger were pinned inside.
Emergency
responders used jacks, steel chains and jaws of life to lift the crane and
crumbled van off the men trapped inside, Gonnelli said. The passenger was
rescued within 15 minutes of emergency responders arriving on the scene,
Gonnelli said, but freeing the driver took an hour and a half. Both men
received emergency medical care as they waited to be freed, the mayor said.
“They
used all types of things to keep that steel from falling down,” Gonnelli said.
With
the driver’s door pinned against the concrete median and the passenger side
blocked by the crane’s heavy steel, rescue crews used a heavy metal jack to
support the rear of the van and pulled the driver out through the back door. He
was freed at 2:15 p.m. and evacuated by medical helicopter.
Both
men in the van were taken to Hackensack University Medical Center, Gonnelli
said. The truck driver was taken to Jersey City Medical Center. Hospital
officials did not release the conditions of any of the people involved.
The
semi was registered to DiFama Concrete of Brooklyn. The company has been cited
49 times for workplace safety violations by the U.S. Occupational Safety and
Health Administration, including 33 serious violations and six repeat offenses.
DiFama
Concrete was founded by Joseph Fama, who was identified by federal prosecutors
as an associate of the Lucchese crime family, according to The New York Times.
Fama left the firm in 2005 after pleading guilty to federal racketeering and
extortion charges, the Times reported.
The
accident forced the closure of Route 3 in both directions. By 3 p.m. the
westbound lanes were reopened, and an eastbound access road opened an hour
later. The Paterson Plank Bridge would remain closed through the night,
Gonnelli said. Both eastbound lanes would be open by the morning commute, he
said. The westbound lane immediately above the damaged bridge girder would
remain closed.
The
damaged bridge is right in between two other bridges receiving emergency repair
work. Hours after the accident, and less than a half-mile east, officials with
the state transportation department announced they would close the right lane
of I-495 eastbound and the exit ramp from Route 3 eastbound onto I-495 to make
emergency repairs to the bridge deck. Workers were to remove and replace the
lane’s concrete.
The
lane closure was scheduled to start at 7 p.m. and end sometime overnight,
before the morning’s commute.
And
just over a mile in the opposite direction, the right lane of the Route 3
eastbound bridge over the Hackensack River remains closed to all traffic, and
the left lane to trucks, so that workers can do emergency repairs to the
bridge’s steel structural supports. After three weeks of partial closures, the
project will require workers to completely close the bridge this weekend to
complete the project.
Transportation
officials urged motorists to avoid the area Wednesday night and this weekend.
People driving to Manhattan should use the George Washington Bridge or the
Holland Tunnel.
We have said many times that trucking is one of the more dangerous profession out there. These big rigs are in fact lethal weapons, causing mayhem every day. Inexperienced drivers are onboard to keep the transportation cost down and be able to compete, but this takes a toll on public health and safety.
As we have reported in these blogs, tens of thousands of people die each year from these truck accidents, and many hundreds of thousands are injured. This is war inside our homeland, folks; we must demand more safety in our roads and highways.
We do not have to be afraid to drive in these roads. The cost of transportation will go up, but with such cheap gasoline and diesel fuel, we can afford it. The cost of these accidents to our population is enormous, many-many billions of dollars every year.