BREAKING: Two lift trucks tip on Cass Street Bridge

Jordan Travis, The Record-Eagle, Traverse City, Mich.
·1 min read

Jun. 14—TRAVERSE CITY — A pair of telescopic lifting trucks lowering a barge into the Boardman River are upright again, with help from a bigger crane.

The cranes tipped forward and their booms fell into the river Monday off Cass Street Bridge's west side, Traverse City Fire Chief Jim Tuller said. Both operators jumped away and no one was hurt.

It happened shortly before 1:15 p.m. as Anlaan Corporation set up for the first day of construction on the bridge, Tuller said. Crews already used the lifters to set down one barge in the river to serve as a construction platform. But something went wrong while lowering the second one.

Team Elmer's brought a 190-ton crane to lift and re-right both, city Engineer Tim Lodge said.

The second one's wheels touched the bridge again at around 4:30 p.m. as the last of a small audience watched.

Traverse City firefighters strung absorbent boom across the Boardman River to contain some hydraulic fluid that leaked from the tipped lifters and into the river, Tuller said. Grand Traverse Metro Fire Department provided some more cleanup material as well.

Check Record-Eagle.com for more on this developing story.