By Michael Morton
The crash occurred after two 60-foot slabs from the Steinway Street bridge that were slated for removal plummeted into the middle of the westbound lane, leaving the driver of a white van, Dimitros “Jimmy” Godosis, with no time or room to stop, police said.
He hit one of the two slabs, each weighing 30 tons, and came away from the collision with a deep cut on his forehead and a fractured leg, police said. Godosis, 47, was taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center, where he underwent the operation on his right leg.
“So far it looks like it's going to heal correctly,” his 21-year-old nephew Nicholas Godosis said, adding that doctors warned the family that the limb could still be amputated in the worse-case scenario. Nicholas Godosis said his uncle regaled family members with the story of his close call after waking up at the hospital Saturday morning but is now in more pain.
Dimitros Godosis, known as Jimmy, was on his way from his home in Massapequa, L.I. to Sutton Pizza, an eatery on the Upper East Side that his family owns, when the accident occurred, his nephew said.
The partial collapse of the bridge left a waterlogged traffic jam for miles. The cause of the accident was not immediately known.
“Unfortunately, for a reason we cannot determine yet, two of the slabs fell,” city Department of Transportation spokesman Tom Cocola said Monday. “We don't know if weather contributed to this – we have no idea.” Cocola said the department had hired Manhattan's Weidlinger Associates to conduct a forensic engineering study to deduce why the pieces had crashed down.
A complete reconstruction of the Steinway Street overpass, built by Robert Moses in the 1930s to handle vehicles and pedestrians, began earlier this summer after engineers noticed wear and tear on the structure. On July 1 Cal-Tran, a New Jersey company hired to do the work, started pre-cutting part of the bridge into slabs for a phased removal beginning Monday.
But after the collapse, the process of removing the other slabs began immediately during an emergency work session, with the Grand Central Parkway closed during the job. By 9 a.m. Saturday, the westbound side of the parkway had reopened, followed by the eastbound side at 7 p.m. and the bridge itself a half hour later.
The $15.3 million bridge project was scheduled to be completed by November 2005, and it was not immediately known if the collapse would delay work. Cocola, the DOT spokesman, said that precutting is a standard procedure and Cal-Tran had done overpass projects elsewhere in the city without any complaints.
Cocola said there was no other bridge construction taking place on the Grand Central and the city was determined to find out what caused the collapse.
“Obviously we're sorry – our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the man who was injured,” he said.
As workers put the finishing touches on the Steinway Street Bridge Saturday night before it reopened, several people ducked under yellow police tape and walked across. Some speculated about the cause of the collapse.
“Maybe the weather, it was the main cause,” Juan Garcia said, referring to the several inches of rain that fell the night before.
At a nearby cafe, a man who spoke on the condition of anonymity said he was the first one to see the smashed van, viewing it from the bridge.
“I hear bam,” the man said. “I want to help the people, but it's very high up.”
The man said a semi-truck had passed by just before the collapse and he thought that the weight of or the vibrations from the vehicle had set off the slabs, which he surmised had been weakened by the rain.
The man's friend, who also declined to give his name, said he had recently driven on the Grand Central Parkway after it reopened.
“Every bridge I was looking up,” the friend said.
Reach reporter Michael Morton by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by calling 718-229-0300, Ext. 154.
