Thursday, April 14, 2016
Piece of Van Wyck collapses into Flushing Meadows parking lot
From CBS 2:
Some Queens residents said a popular parking lot is turning into a danger zone, and they blamed falling debris.
As CBS2’s Elise Finch reported, the parking lot sits under the busy Van Wyck Expressway, and near a popular recreation center.
People who frequent the area said they want to see long overdue repairs finally happen.
An enormous slab of concrete and metal has been all anybody visiting the Flushing Meadows Aquatic Center could talk a about lately. It looks as though it fell from the underside of the Van Wyck Expressway into the parking lot — just steps from the swim center’s entrance.
“This has become dangerous,” said Loida Papandrea of Little Neck, Queens. “You can see. You can see all the breakage. This is not the first time cement has fallen down if you just look at all the cracks.”
Shortly after noon on Tuesday, NYC Parks Advocates President Geoffrey Croft got multiple calls from people who work and play in the area. They said a huge chunk of debris fell 30 feet, narrowly missing several cars.
The slab measures 2 1/2 feet by 2 1/2 feet, and likely weighs more than 200 pounds.
Twenty-four hours later, it was still there.
25 comments:
Don't worry about that just build some more sky scrapers, hotels and massage parlors and no one will notice.
That's what the leadership has done for it's community.
Only a matter of time until...
The infrastructure crumbling and falling apart should not be a surprise.
Everybody pays the price of corruption one way or an other.
You have to wait until a piece lands on someone and they sue to do anything to fix it. That is somewhere in the NYC Constitution.
Where is a nice place to resettle from NYC? Tax-wise, Crime-wise. Social amenities and health care? I might want to move.
I'm at a loss for words. The previous comments hit the nail on the head. The infrastructure can't handle what we have now...so let's build more and more!!!
this isn't a comment meant to downplay the need to repair our literally crumbling infrastructure, but i'm a licensed forensic engineer and there is no way that broke off the VWE. the crumbling concrete on the bridge itself is called spalling and occurs when the rebar rusts from road salt and the elements. the rust expands and forces the concrete off. pieces of the rusted rebar are left embedded in the concrete, as is the shape of the rebar as if it were pressed into the concrete. neither of those are present here - the top of the debris is far too smooth and much too clean.
also spalls from concrete have no pieces of rebar going through them, they're just plain concrete. a fall from that height would obliterate an unreinforced piece of that size. don't believe it? get a cinder block and throw it off your roof then see how much it still looks like a cinder block.
it's good this is getting attention because it's definitely a potentially dangerous condition... but in this case consider the myth busted.
Hey, this is QUEENS!
Sweep up the debris, get the DOT to hang netting under the crumbling roadway and fugetaboutit.
CBS 2 this morning reported it was determined someone dumped it there. No one thought to look straight up?
Since there are always pieces of it falling, it was naturally thought to be from the overpass. And when the camera panned up, it looked as thought pieces were missing.
georgetheatheist...
North Carolina. Just moved here from being a life-long queens resident. Yeah, there are some rednecks in the state, but if you stick to the cities (which are liberal) like Charlotte, Raleigh, and asheville, and within the Research Triangle, you will fit right in. Mostly, because its home to lots for former NYers (but oddly, mostly form the state, not the city).
Great weather, mid-level taxes (meaning not crazy like NY, but enough to not be a poor shithole like FL or MS), good job market, good housing market yet very affordable (plenty of .5 to 1 acre lots in cities with houses that are 2x the size of a NYC private home at 60% of the price), great food,and a good hospital system.
but in this case consider the myth busted.
Excellent analysis form an expert. Thank you.
I have a cousin in N Carolina and a mother-in-law that lived there.
There are islands of culture dotted in a background of cracker country where the klan is not too far, the religious folk dance with snakes, they reject Darwin, and make the Mormons positively cutting edge in beliefs.
Its a culture built around golf course communities, the cultural center goes by the name 'The Pink Palace' or some shit like that, and the big day is July 4 where they get some country star to sing 'Im Proud to Be An American' as the community has a parade of decorated golf carts.
Yea, sure. But I remember Lawrence Welk and the experience was so bad I never became a regular TV watcher since. If that is your speed, God Bless.
It didn't fall, it was left there by some slob, corrections are in order.
Hey George
Look at Florida
NO INCOME TAX!
A guy moves to Florida and New Jersey has to redo their budget 'cause of his move
read the story
On mans Move Affects New Jersey Budget, Forecaster Warns
Does the "expert" feel that the structure looks safe? I saw lots of crumbling concrete and exposed rebar.Even a small piece of concrete falling from that height can send you to the hospital or kill you or at least damage your car.
These things should be inspected on a regular basis,instead nothing gets done until someone makes a complaint or someone gets killed.
North Carolina. Just moved here from being a life-long queens resident.
Yep, and unlike NYC, the men in North Carolina are not allowed to use women's bathrooms either.
PARK AT YOUR OWN RISK.....or fence it off and think about why you even have a car in NYC...ok?
Because only one bus line even comes close to the rec center.
Expert here again.
"it's good this is getting attention because it's definitely a potentially dangerous condition"
Think that answers your question. I would be shocked if DOT does not inspect this every two years. Personally, I, as in me personally, would describe it at that height as needing immediate repair, BUT it is not so severely deteriorated that it's something where I would challenge another engineer's judgment.
Does the "expert" feel that the structure looks safe
He agreed that the infrastructure is crumbling, point is the piece of concrete did not come from the expressway.
Simple isn't it?
Maybe they can take some of the "Vision Zero" money to fix this. After all, we currently have zero people killed there so far, so we should try to keep it that way.
Buil, over build...develop, over develop...without regard to rotting infrastructure.
The political corruption, that runs rampant in Queens, is manifesting itself everywhere in the physical corruption of ancient infrastructure.
Too bad that Melinda Katz wasn't beaned by some concrete which might wake her up.
The developers's slut of our borough couldn't give a crap about her own damn backyard!
Whoever found that slab, and however he moved it is extraordinary, looks like he wanted to bring attention to the decomposition of the elevated road above the lot. Despite the shoddy reporting, because if that fell it would have left a crater on the asphalt or sidewalk, it still made the point of the city and the DOT's tremendous neglect of our infrastructure and the imminent danger and risk of every motorist. It is inspiring me to find any debris I can carry and bring it to another area of disrepair and degradation.
Maybe our electeds message is for us all to ride bikes, buses and light rail instead.
Dot is totally incompetent. I have never seen the roads and lighting this bad since the 70's....
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