Despite safety concerns, construction resumes near 3rd Avenue Bridge in Fort Lauderdale
FORT LAUDERDALE - Biking and foot traffic were back to normal on Fort Lauderdale's River Walk path Monday, four days after a deadly construction accident brought everything to a standstill.
Last Thursday a piece of crane fell off a platform on the Gables high-rise apartment building under construction and toppled onto the SE 3rd Avenue Bridge smashing cars and sending two people to the hospital.
On Monday, much to the surprise of area residents, construction on the building resumed. A concrete truck was pouring cement into the bottom floor and a truck was delivering pipes.
"I think it's disturbing," said Rosemary Laurent who lives in the building next door called Water Garden Condominiums.
She and other residents have had concerns about the Gables project since it started going up two years ago.
"It looked like they wanted to get that building up as fast as possible," she said.
The building under construction is just feet away from Water Garden and sits next to the bridge on the northeast side.
Last year, Water Garden resident Gary Grayson sent a letter to OSHA with pictures complaining about concrete spilling onto their building.
Grayson says there have been 7 or 8 concrete spills.
"I was here when it fell into the garage," said Water Garden condominium dog walker Brenda Blume.
"It was scary. it almost hit a maintenance worker," she says.
The general contractor Kast Construction responded to Grayson's concerns with pictures saying they were meeting safety requirements.
OSHA said last week that Kast, phoenix Rigging and Maxim Crane works are under investigation because of the crane accident.
The City of Fort Lauderdale acting city manager told CBSMiami Monday, "We support OSHA's ongoing investigation into last week's tragic crane collapse.
Once the agency's findings are released city staff can determine the next steps.