A big chunk of the Tappan Zee Bridge went down in history — and the Hudson — on Thursday after a detonation that thrilled onlookers who played hooky from work and school to watch the spectacle.
Despite a few delays, the crowds had cameras at the ready when a boom shook the ground and rattled trees. Acrid black smoke filled the air as the structure dropped straight into the river. It remained about half submerged; the remnants will be salvaged and recycled.
"The fact that you can feel the concussion against your legs was crazy," said Kathleen Staab, who watched from about a half-mile away.
A section of the old Tappan Zee Bridge is brought down with explosives in this view from Tarrytown, N.Y., Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019. (AP PhotoSeth Wenig)
"Whoa!" the crowd shouted. "Do it again!"
The structure has already been replaced by the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, which carries Interstate 87 traffic between Westchester and Rockland counties, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of New York City, at one of the broad Hudson River's widest spots.
A lighthearted mood prevailed as spectators, bundled against the cold, gathered outside the historic Lyndhurst Mansion.
"My boss let me go," said Catherine Easton, 56. "I was going to make up a story, but I decided to tell the truth."
Easton, 56, drove from Redding, Connecticut, with her boyfriend. "We saw our first fireworks together with the bridge in the background," she said. "So we have a sentimental thing with the bridge and we wanted to wish it goodbye."
Staab, 45, of Sussex, New Jersey, went there with her sons, ages 10, 7 and 4. "They're playing hooky," she said. "I'd rather them experience history than read about it."
She said, "It was always a neat bridge to drive over, and the views were always so beautiful. But it is always kind of sad to see a piece of history implode."
Despite the nostalgia, the old bridge had drawbacks.
The Tappan Zee Bridge, which opened in 1955, became a poster child for America's crumbling infrastructure. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the son of the new bridge's namesake, recalled in 2017 an experience familiar to many Tappan Zee drivers — steel plates that shifted beneath traffic, providing unnerving glimpses through road cracks of the chasm below.
The Democrat said he'd envisioned escape scenarios in case he ended up in the water: "'Do I take off the seat belt? Do I open the window?' I had one of those special tools with the hammer and the seat belt cutter."
"I think it traumatized an entire generation," he said.
Cuomo watched the demolition by video at the Capitol in Albany. "Boy, it went straight down," he said as his Cabinet members applauded.
There are plans to dismantle the western portion without explosives sometime this year.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian court on Friday ordered the detention of the country’s farm minister in the latest high-profile corruption investigation, while Kyiv security officials assessed how they can recover lost battlefield momentum in the war against Russia.
Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ruled that Agriculture Minister Oleksandr Solskyi should be held in custody for 60 days, but he was released after paying bail of 75 million hryvnias ($1.77 million), a statement said.
Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau suspects Solskyi headed an organized crime group that between 2017 and 2021 unlawfully obtained land worth 291 million hryvnias ($6.85 million) and attempted to obtain other land worth 190 million hryvnias ($4.47 million).
Ukraine is trying to root out corruption that has long dogged the country. A dragnet over the past two years has seen Ukraine’s defense minister, top prosecutor, intelligence chief and other senior officials lose their jobs.
That has caused embarrassment and unease as Ukraine receives tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid to help fight Russia’s army, and the European Union and NATO have demanded widespread anti-graft measures before Kyiv can realize its ambition of joining the blocs.
In Ukraine's capital, doctors and ambulance crews evacuated patients from a children’s hospital on Friday after a video circulated online saying Russia planned to attack it.
Parents hefting bags of clothes, toys and food carried toddlers and led young children from the Kyiv City Children’s Hospital No. 1 on the outskirts of the city. Medics helped them into a fleet of waiting ambulances to be transported to other facilities.
In the video, a security official from Russian ally Belarus alleged that military personnel were based in the hospital. Kyiv city authorities said that the claim was “a lie and provocation.”
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that civic authorities were awaiting an assessment from security services before deciding when it was safe to reopen the hospital.
“We cannot risk the lives of our children,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold online talks Friday with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which has been the key international organization coordinating the delivery of weapons and other aid to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said late Thursday that the meeting would discuss how to turn around Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield. The Kremlin’s forces have gained an edge over Kyiv’s army in recent months as Ukraine grappled with a shortage of ammunition and troops.
Russia, despite sustaining high losses, has been taking control of small settlements as part of its effort to drive deeper into eastern Ukraine after capturing the city of Avdiivka in February, the U.K. defense ministry said Friday.
It’s been slow going for the Kremlin’s troops in eastern Ukraine and is likely to stay that way, according to the Institute for the Study of War. However, the key hilltop town of Chasiv Yar is vulnerable to the Russian onslaught, which is using glide bombs — powerful Soviet-era weapons that were originally unguided but have been retrofitted with a navigational targeting system — that obliterate targets.
“Russian forces do pose a credible threat of seizing Chasiv Yar, although they may not be able to do so rapidly,” the Washington-based think tank said late Thursday.
It added that Russian commanders are likely seeking to advance as much as possible before the arrival in the coming weeks and months of new U.S. military aid, which was held up for six months by political differences in Congress.
While that U.S. help wasn’t forthcoming, Ukraine’s European partners didn’t pick up the slack, according to German’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which tracks Ukraine support.
“The European aid in recent months is nowhere near enough to fill the gap left by the lack of U.S. assistance, particularly in the area of ammunition and artillery shells,” it said in a report Thursday.
Ukraine is making a broad effort to take back the initiative in the war after more than two years of fighting. It plans to manufacture more of its own weapons in the future, and is clamping down on young people avoiding conscription, though it will take time to process and train any new recruits.
Jill Lawless contributed to this report.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Ukrainian young acting student Gleb Batonskiy plays piano in a public park in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
