Truck Overload Collapsed Elevated Highway

On December 15, 1973, a dump truck carrying asphalt caused an 80-foot section of Manhattan's West Side Elevated Highway to collapse between Little West 12th Street and Gansevoort Street. Investigators discovered that the truck carried 30 short tons of asphalt and exceeded its permitted weight by 9 short tons, while a sedan fell through the opening behind it without seriously injuring either driver. Officials blamed Edenwald Construction Corp. of Whitestone, Queens, then awarded the same company a no-bid contract to clear the wreckage.

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