Two construction workers were injured and traffic was snarled for hours after a crane struck an overhead traffic sign on the Whitestone Bridge, causing it to crash down onto the southbound Queens side.
According to a spokesperson for MTA Bridges & Tunnels, shortly after 1 p.m. on Friday, March 27, a contracting company hired to paint the bridge was moving a boom truck with a crane, which struck an overhead gantry sign.
The impact took down the sign and the gantry, the metal system that supports signs, blocking all six lanes (three southbound and three northbound lanes), and closing the bridge in both directions.
The truck, which has a crane attached to the back, was driving near the Queens anchorage when it struck the sign. Two employees of Alpha Painting & Construction Company, Inc., suffered minor injuries and were taken to New York Hospital Queens.
All traffic was removed safely from the bridge and was being diverted to the Throgs Neck and Robert F. Kennedy bridges.
Alpha Painting & Construction Company Inc., of Baltimore, MD, has been an MTA Bridges and Tunnels contractor since 2008. They were hired to paint the Queens and Bronx towers at the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge.
