On his usual Tuesday commute on Syracuse’s elevated highway, mailman Joe Conti thought he saw a pile of black chunky snow in the road.
He made the split-second decision to drive through it instead of risking an icy swerve. He heard a bang and watched the tire pressure light sink to nothing.
“The whole car shook,” he said. “If you were with me, you would think I hit the world’s most gigantic pothole.”
He looked around the elevated ramp from Interstate 81 south to Interstate 690 east. It rises up over the city, part of the one million square feet of deck at least 22 feet off the ground in downtown Syracuse.
“Holy sh--,” he said. “I’ve got to get over.”
That’s when he noticed the others.
Four other vehicles had pulled over and started their flashers. Then two more joined the crowd.
“When it first happened, I was beating myself up, how could you be so stupid. How could you not see it?” Conti said. He had borrowed his mother’s Mercedes. “Then I said, ‘Oh my God, it’s dropping these cars like flies.’ ”
Joe Conti was not hurt when the car he was driving hit a piece of steel on the I-690 ramp to I-81. His car and six others were damaged.Joe Conti
Conti called for a tow. Then called his supervisor to say he would not be able to walk his mail route on the North Side.
Coincidentally, a co-worker also on his way to the Teall Avenue post office, had his tires blown out, too. He decided to roll on his rims and get out of there. He said he thought there was a black plastic bag in the road.
In all, seven vehicles were disabled, police said.
Their tires were not just punctured. They were blown out with their rims protruding, pictures show.
No one was hurt, police said.
The drivers had hit steel. A stretch of metal stuck up from a bridge joint.
It’s there as a kind of armor to protect the flexible strip of material between bridge decks. The setup allows flexibility in a place where the weather freezes and thaws and freezes and thaws.
Syracuse police said it is likely a snowplow pulled it loose. State Department of Transportation officials said that is possible.
Every bridge has this same construction, a piece of steel that runs the entire width of the road. It’s a high-maintenance item, said David Smith, the DOT’s Central New York regional director.
The DOT last inspected this bridge joint in June of 2020. They were able to do a lot of extra maintenance that year when Covid kept commuters off the highways, he said.
Multiple times a day, especially in snow, DOT supervisors tour the elevated highways looking for all kinds of problems, including loose bridge joints, he said.
Steel could pop up from a bridge joint anywhere there’s a bridge, he said.
But, of course, chances are higher in a place with 11 football fields worth of concrete in the air.
The elevated bridges were built between 1964 and 1966 with the idea that they would last about 50 years. That means these bridges reached what engineers call their “useful life” in 2017.
Almost all of the bridges and ramps are rated in poor condition. The state spends millions of dollars a year to keep them safe and functioning for the 60,000 vehicles that traverse them every day.
There is a plan to tear down this ramp and replace it when the state DOT tears down the elevated Interstate 81 viaduct through Syracuse. That work is scheduled to begin in 2026, but it is on pause while opponents challenge the state and federal governments in court.
“The sooner we can replace them … or remove them, the better,” Smith said. “That’s just a matter of where we are with the 81 project and certainly with the lawsuit. It’s just a matter of time.”
On Tuesday, the DOT shut down the highway and cut the steel away. Lacking steel doesn’t affect traffic, he said, but it does reduce the lifespan of the bridge joint. If the DOT decides to replace the joint, it would be in the summer, he said.
About 90 minutes after the first accident was reported Tuesday, the ramp was reopened.
Tires on seven vehicles were punctured by a piece of steel on the ramp from I-81 southbound to I-690 eastbound.Provided photo
Conti was still there, waiting for a tow truck.
For two hours, he sat in the car, resisting the urge to step out and check the damage. That’s when people die, he said.
Conti said he will submit a claim for the state DOT to pay for the damage. The estimate is $3,052 to repair the suspension, alignment and buy two new tires, he said.
Smith said the state considers each claim, but does not guarantee a payment.
Conti said he’s glad no one was hurt.
“Accidents happen,” he said. “I just think something like this, it kind of needs to be taken care of. I feel like the city’s lucky that there wasn’t a huge pileup on 690.”
Contact Michelle Breidenbach | mbreidenbach@syracuse.com | 315-470-3186.