Worker remains critical after girder falls at Surprise bridge project
Jacob Stanek
Surprise - Bell Grand Bridge Support Beam Collapse
A twisted concrete encased steel I support beam lies partially across the ground after it fell during installation at the new Bell Road-Grand Avenue bridge site Thursday, still in the grip of one of the two cranes that was lifting it into place. One worker was critically injured. (Jacob Stanek/Daily News-Sun)
Posted: Wednesday, June 8, 2016 3:30 am | Updated: 10:44 pm, Thu Jun 9, 2016.
By Jeff Grant, Daily News-Sun, Surprise Today and yourwestvalley.com
SURPRISE, Ariz. - Two construction workers were injured, one critically, when a steel-reinforced concrete bridge-support beam fell 40 feet during work on the new Bell Road/Grand Avenue (U.S. 60) intersection Thursday morning.
Neither of the workers was identified.
Southwest Industrial Rigging of Phoenix, the subcontractor that provides crane services on the $41.9 million project designed to relieve traffic congestion at the heavily used intersection, could not be reached for comment.
Coffman Specialities, Inc., of San Diego, the project's general contractor declined comment. "It's under investigation," said a woman answering the company's phone at its headquarters.
Work on the project will be affected, though ADOT spokesman Doug Nintzel could not predict the length of the delay.
"We’re going to focus right now on finding out what happened here. Right now, safety and the investigation become the priority. Safety is our number-one priority. We want to make sure something like this doesn't happen again. Our concerns are also with the (critically injured) worker and his family."
Emergency personnel were called to the site at 10:05 a.m., and when they arrived, found a 26-year-old worker on the ground with severe trauma from the fall. The worker was airlifted to a Valley trauma center, said Surprise Fire and Medical Department Battalion Chief Julie Moore.
"He was in very critical condition," Moore said.
The 150-foot-long beam, weighing between 60,000 and 90,000 pounds according to Nintzel, fell onto a piece of heavy machinery, but the operator was unhurt, Moore said.
The less seriously injured worker was on a scissors lift next to the beam, and injured his elbow when the beam caught as it was falling, Moore said. He was taken by ambulance to Del E. Webb Medical Center in Sun City West.
Nearby businesses felt the thud of the falling beam.
"It felt like an earthquake. I didn’t know what happened until our manager came in and asked about it. Then I saw the emergency vehicles, and I knew it could be something serious," said Lori Jensen, an employee at Olive Garden restaurant, about 100 yards from the accident site.
"We're just saying a lot of prayers for those people."
The accident stopped freight train service on the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway line that runs parallel to Grand Avenue (U.S. 60). A train that had been held up finally moved through the construction zone very slowly around 4 p.m.
Two staffers from the Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) were sent to the scene for a preliminary evaluation, said Bob Charles, division spokesman. Charles did not immediately have a time frame for further investigation.
The new bridge is intended to relieve congestion at the intersection, one of the Valley's most heavily used, according to ADOT. When complete, a series of access ramps and roadways will link the two roads while some traffic signals are repositioned.
Work on the project began earlier this year, and the intersection was closed April 1. It is scheduled to reopen in November prior to Thanksgiving, Nintzel said.
During the project's current phase, a series of 65 steel-reinforced concrete I support beams are being laid in place for the three-section span. The first 24 had been installed earlier this week, and workers had laid the first five in the second group Thursday when the girder fell.
The piece was being held by a pair of cranes. Nintzel said one crane had released its end, but the girder was still in the grip of the second crane when the accident occurred.
"We don't know what happened," he said.
Joseph J. McHugh, a civil engineer with over 40 years’ experience in the industry who was part of the investigation of the Interstate 35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis in 2007, said investigators will look at a number of factors, including equipment, procedures and personnel.
"There’s a variety of things that could have gone wrong,' he said.