Toppled Crane Recovery Operation

Montreal, QC - EvilGentleman - Saturday, July 15th, 2006 : goo

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On July 6, I went to go take some pictures of a construction crane that fell next to Autoroute 20 in the Montreal borough of Lachine, just next to 53rd avenue. The crane had been drilling holes for the supports to hold the new sound barrier being built along the Lachine section of Autoroute 20.

Apparently, the driver made an error while driving over soft and partially excavated ground with the boom fully extended, which resulted in the crane going off-balance. Once it started tipping, there was no going back, even though it took a full 20 minutes for the crane to fall. But at least the crane operator had time to take measures to minimize the damage, such as shutting off the engine, and securing loose stuff.

The fall was incredibly lucky, as the crane fell exactly parallel to the highway, all within the construction zone. Had it fallen even a few degrees to either side, it would have fallen either onto heavy traffic on Autoroute 20 or onto Sir George Simpson Street. It also fell only 40 feet from a house, and it could have conceivably fallen across the highway and toppled the hydroelectric towers in the highway median.

View of the crane from 54th avenue. The top half of the boom has already been removed by this point.

Workers on the way to a meeting to discuss how to go about the lift.

A view up the booms of the two recovery cranes.

A worker connects lift cables to the back of the crane.

The worker with the grey helmet directed the operation. In this shot, he is directing workers attaching lift cables.

Workers remove the bolts holding the boom of the crane in place. The plan is to remove the boom, then right the body of the crane without having to worry about the boom swinging and hitting traffic, one of the recovery cranes, the nearby house, or myself and the other onlookers gathered in the driveway of the house next door. By the way, the owner of the house was one of the nicest people I have met in a long time. Actually, all the people I met from that area were very nice. A pretty decent place to live, if you ask me.

Workers get ready to remove the shims holding the boom stable.

We moved back a bit as the actual lift begins.

The boom is now seperated from the crane.

At this point, I had to go pick up my wife from work. We rushed back to find...

The body of the crane is now upright.

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