August 27, 2005

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  JON L. HENDRICKS | THE TIMES Caution tape lines the outside of the twisted remains of a collapsed flyover bridge Monday that killed one construction worker Friday near Ill. 394 and Interstate 80 in Lansing.
  
  This story ran on nwitimes.com on Saturday, August 20, 2005 12:54 AM CDT
  
  Accident scene surreal, somber
  
  BY DEBORAH LAVERTY
  Times Staff Writer
  LANSING | Just before 5 p.m., the unthinkable happened.
  
  As workers were setting the last of six steel beams, measuring 9.5 feet by 300 feet, in place for the Ill. 394 flyover ramp connecting Interstate 80, the beams moved.
  
  “All six of the beams shifted and fell off of a concrete pier. One of the beams is still connected,” Illinois Department of Transportation spokeswoman Diane O’Keefe said.
  
  Ironworkers stood by somberly as police and emergency personnel worked to control traffic. They had little to say as the body of one of their own, Daniel Lopez, lay beneath literally tons of steel.
  
  The collapsed steel resembled a larger-than-life accordion. An orange crane, used to set the beams, sat silent.
  
  OSHA inspectors were on the scene before nightfall and were still searching for a cause late Friday.
  
  “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family,” O’Keefe said.
  
  Because of the potential danger to workers and motorists near the highway, Lopez’s body would not be removed until it could be determined how best to move the lone still-standing beam.
  
  “We want to get a structural engineer here so we can safely move the beams and remove the man’s body. I’m not sure of a time frame. We just want to make sure the beams won’t shift and won’t be of any danger to anyone else,” O’Keefe said.
  
  Illinois State Trooper Leonard Stallworth said the Glenwood and Lansing Fire Departments were first called to the scene shortly before 5 p.m.
  
  The Glenwood fire chief described the scene as chaos when rescue crews arrived.
  
  Ironworker had little time to escape
  
  BY MEMA AYI
  mayi@nwitimes.com
  219.933.3241
  The flyover ramp on Ill. 394 came down in just seconds, shaking the ground and everything around it, according to a Schererville police officer riding through the construction zone at the time of the Friday night accident.
  
  “It was moving around like an accordion,” said Officer Richard Jandura, who was on his way to a White Sox game with girlfriend Buffy Pajor.
  
  Jandura, in the passenger seat, thought the iron girders were coming right at the car. Stuck in one lane through the construction zone, the falling bridge was about 100 feet to his right, he said.
  
  “It was like something you see on TV. It was coming out of the sky,” Jandura said. “It looked like aluminum and it was coming right toward us.”
  
  A loud crash followed when the iron beams fell, shaking the ground.
  
  As the bridge fell, six construction workers ran toward the highway, he said.
  
  “We saw three guys hiding behind a girder and when it was over, the workers reacted instantly. They ran to help and didn’t even think twice about it,” Jandura said.
  
  The couple didn’t realize how serious the accident was until they read the newspaper the next morning. For Jandura, news of the death of 33-year-old Daniel Lopez, of Munster, brought back memories of the April 15, 1982, Cline Avenue bridge collapse. Indiana’s worst industrial accident killed Jandura’s neighbor and 13 other men when 444 feet of the bridge fell.
  
  Lopez was trapped under 240 tons of steel. It took firefighters, ironworkers and construction workers more than 28 hours to free his body from the steel beams. The Cook County medical examiner’s office said Sunday Lopez died of multiple injuries and ruled his death a construction accident.
  
  On Monday, attorneys for the Lopez family filed a wrongful death suit against the general construction contractor, Dunnet Bay Construction Co., alleging the company failed to take precautions for workers’ safety, according to NBC5. The suit, seeking unspecified damages in excess of $50,000, was filed in Cook County Circuit Court by the law firm of Goldberg, Weisman & Cairo.
  
  Lopez, of 8801 White Oak Ave., worked for Wayne, Ill.-based Angus Construction and was a member of Ironworkers Local Union No. 1 for 15 years. Family members remembered him as a hard worker and good provider.
  
  He and Crystal Lopez were divorced about three weeks ago, but the couple were still good friends, said Crystal’s father, Verrill Dean.
  
  “I think she’s as upset as she would be if she were still married to him,” Verrill Dean said.
  
  Mother-in-law Barbara Dean described Lopez as a great father to Daniel, 17, Amanda, 13, Mark, 9 and Jacob, 8.
  
  “His kids were his life,” Barbara Dean said.
  
  Lopez and his ex-wife didn’t live far from each other and spoke on the telephone every morning, Barbara Dean said.
  
  Lopez was proud of the work he did. He often pointed out structures he worked on to his children.
  
  He worked on the fountain at the former Goldblatts in downtown Hammond, the federal court building and bridges throughout the region in his 15-year career, brother-in-law Richard Dean said.
  
  A native of north Hammond, Lopez grew up near Mason Street. He enjoyed riding his motorcycle and attending his children’s soccer and softball games.
  
  Crystal and the couple’s four children are holding tight to each other, Barbara Dean said.
  
  Lopez’s other family, the brotherhood of ironworkers, also are coping with his death.
  
  “The ironworkers are a real tight union. They live and die by each other,” Richard Dean said.
  
  The union’s business agent stayed at the accident scene until Lopez’s body was removed. Other co-workers returned his truck and personal things to his ex-wife, Richard said.
  
  “Even when he wasn’t working, he was constantly going. He was a hyper kind of guy,” Richard said. “But when it’s all said and done, he took care of his family.”
  
  
  
  
  [EXTRAS]
  What’s next
  Work on the flyover ramp at Ill. 394 and Interstate 80 has been suspended until the investigation is complete, Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman Mike Claffey said Monday.
  No more steel will be set for the ramp until the department gets an explanation of what went wrong. Other work on the Kingery Expressway project, such as retainer walls, will continue, Claffey said.
  The Occupational Safety Hazard Administration will continue its investigation into the collapse, though the agency has six months to file the citations, according to OSHA spokesman Bill Coulehan.

  
  

  

  
  

  JON L. HENDRICKS | THE TIMES Emergency workers look over the scene of a collapsed bridge Friday near I-80/94 and Ill. 394 in Lansing. One man was killed and two others were injured.

  
  

  

  
  

  JON L. HENDRICKS | THE TIMES Emergency workers assess the damage left after 240 tons of steel fell Friday during the construction project on Interstate 80/94 and Ill. 394.

  
  

  Ramp collapses

  
  

  BY MEMA AYI
  mayi@nwitimes.com
  219.933.3241

  
  

  LANSING | One man was killed and two were sent to the hospital when 240 tons of steel fell on a crew of ironworkers completing the final phase of the ramp that will connect Interstates 80 and 294 to Interstate 94 north.

  
  

  Daniel Lopez, an ironworker for Wayne, Ill.-based Angus Contractors, was crushed beneath the six 40-ton girders meant to hold up the concrete ramp on Ill. 394 at I-80, Illinois State Police Sgt. Joe Stangl said. Lopez age and hometown were not available Friday night.

  
  

  Late Friday, authorities said engineers were working to determine how best to remove Lopez’s body from beneath the fallen 300-foot-long girders.

  
  

  “We don’t know what happened except there was a catastrophic failure,” Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman Mike Claffey said.

  
  

  Six beams, all connected, were being placed into the ground to complete the highway ramp when the girders fell.

  
  

  Two injured workers were taken to St. James Hospital and Health Centers in Olympia Fields and St. Margaret Mercy Healthcare Centers in Hammond with nonlife-threatening injuries, Stangl said.

  
  

  Claffey said four others were treated for injuries that ranged from trauma to cuts and bruises.

  
  

  The Occupational Safety Hazard Administration cited the company on at least four occasions between 1997 and 2003, including projects on the Mannheim Bridge over the Cal-Sag River and a bridge at 183rd Street and I-80 in Tinley Park.

  
  

  In the wake of the disaster, emergency crews closed Ill. 394 north at Interstate 80. Traffic headed north to the Bishop Ford Freeway was rerouted onto I-80/94 east to Calumet Avenue. Westbound lanes would take motorists back to the Bishop Ford.

  
  

  Claffey said Ill. 394 North will be closed until crews can safely remove the iron. Stangl said he did not expect the highway to reopen today.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  JON L. HENDRICKS | THE TIMES Firefighters on Friday overlook the remains of a collapsed bridge that was part of a ramp that will connect Interstates 80 and 294 to Interstate 94 north in Lansing. An ironworker was crushed beneath the six 40-ton girders meant to hold up the concrete ramp on Ill. 394 at I-80.
  

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