51st and 91st Street Tower Crane Collapses

Thornton Tomasetti engineers were on site within hours of two tragic crane collapses in New York City, stabilizing the scene, planning steps to reopen buildings and streets and determining the cause of failure. 

A collapse on 51st Street in March 2008 caused seven fatalities when equipment used to stabilize the crane fell and knocked out tie-backs that anchored the crane tower to the building. In a rapid chain reaction, the 200-foot tower fell against a building across the street, and catapulted the crane cab and the payload on the crane hook blocks away. Eighteen nearby buildings were evacuated. Another crane collapse in May 2008 on 91st Street resulted in two fatalities when a weld in a repaired turntable failed, toppling the cab from a height of 12 stories.