Results tagged “blowtorch”

The MTA offered its plan for repairing the Throgs Neck Bridge, the Queens-Bronx crossing that was damaged by a three-alarm fire the other week. You can read the plan here; MTA Brides & Tunnels president Susan Kupferman said, "We certainly understand the public's frustration. Our goals continue to be to reduce traffic impact and move forward with the repair plan." The fire was started by a construction worker's blow torch and the MTA says that the NJ contractor EE Cruz has accepted responsibility for the damages and repair work. EE Cruz had subcontracted the steel work to a Bronx company, Imperial Iron Works, whose crew was on the bridge during the fire. Newsday reports, "The crew that was torching steel when the fire broke out has been prohibited from working on the bridge...However, E.E. Cruz and Imperial have been retained for the continuing work, officials said."

Last Friday, the Throgs Neck Bridge was shut down due to a three-alarm fire that started on construction scaffolding beneath the bridge. Now the FDNY says the fire was started by a construction worker's blow torch: Newsday reports, "Work being performed under the bridge at the time of the blaze is part of a reconstruction project to replace about 140,000 square feet of roadway deck at the Queens approach." The contractor, E.E. Cruz & Co., a NJ company also doing work at Ground Zero, did not comment. The 48-year-old bridge's Queens-bound lanes are open while only two Bronx-bound lanes are open.