THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 31, 1996 TAG: 9605310547
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: 32 lines
A 190-foot boom on a construction crane fell atop the almost-completed downtown parking garage Thursday night, knocking chunks of concrete out of all four stories in one section.
No one was injured, authorities said.
The damage will cost $300,000 to $400,000 and take at least two weeks to repair, said Rodney Simpson, owner of R&B Erection, which was operating the crane.
Simpson's crew was scheduled to complete its work by Saturday and move the crane to another job. The crane operator, James Fleming, was planning to retire after this job, Simpson said.
The $8.5 million project, designed to provide 1,500 parking spaces for Navy sailors on ships berthed at Newport News Shipbuilding, was begun earlier this year and was supposed to be finished by early July.
The 6:20 p.m. accident occurred while the crane's crew was trying to position the 320-ton-capacity machine onto a wooden platform so it could place concrete slabs in the main structure, Simpson said.
The crane was off center, and Fleming was backing it up to reposition it when the crane tipped backward, collapsing the metal boom over the top story of the garage, Simpson said. The boom came to rest against the structure.
Simpson and about 14 other workers were standing near the crane at the time.
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT GENERAL by CNB