A large piece of debris fell from the ceiling of a tunnel on the busy Trans-Manhattan Expressway Thursday morning, narrowly missing passing drivers in a harrowing caught-on-camera episode.
City Department of Environmental Protection worker John Toledo said he was on his way home from work at about 6 a.m. when a large piece of what he thought was concrete fell in front of his car just east of the George Washington Bridge. He said he had no time to stop, and plowed into the debris, violently shaking his car and blowing out one tire on impact. A Port Authority spokesperson said officials believe the material was actually dust and light material.
Toledo, 61, recorded the incident on his dashcam and shared the footage on Reddit.
He said he’s lucky to be alive.
"If I would have been one or two more seconds further forward, instead of that piece of concrete hitting the front of the car, it could have come through the windshield, and I wouldn't be speaking to you,” Toledo said.
Officials from the state transportation department said the section of roadway is under the jurisdiction of the Port Authority, which owns the bridge. The tunnel runs beneath the Bridge Apartments complex in Washington Heights.
“The material appears to consist primarily of dust and light material from above,” Port Authority spokesperson Seth Stein wrote in a statement. “Out of an abundance of caution, the Port Authority will conduct additional overnight inspections of the ceiling panels in this section of roadway, including lane closures to allow for a comprehensive examination and any necessary immediate mitigation measures.”
The congested, busy section of expressway where the debris fell connects the George Washington Bridge with the Cross Bronx Expressway.
Toledo said he’s not looking for a huge payout, just for his car repairs to be covered. He said more needs to be done to prevent similar incidents.
“For the sake of anybody else driving that road in the future there should be some concerted effort by those responsible for that structure to examine it, to inspect it, and to maintain it so that something like that does not happen again to anyone,” he said.
This story's headline has been updated to accurately reflect how officials describe the material.
