Story highlights
- Since Tuesday, engineers have been inside the One57 building on West 57th
- High winds toppled a crane boom some 90 stories above New York City
- Bloomberg said engineers will be "tying the boom to the building so that they can then work around the top of it"
- The whole process could take weeks, the mayor said
Engineers have determined a storm-battered crane that is dangling over Midtown Manhattan is securely fastened to a high-rise building under construction, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Wednesday.
Crews will "have to construct another crane on top of it in order to take down this one," the mayor told reporters.
"There was enormous torque when the crane fell over and the fact that those connectors have withstood the pressure just testifies to how well they were put in and how stable that tower is," Bloomberg said.
Since Tuesday, engineers have been inside the One57 building on West 57th Street, where gale force winds toppled a crane boom some 90 stories above the city.
The peculiar scene has since left many New Yorkers peering skyward as authorities secured the area and evacuated nearby buildings, including the posh Le Parker Meridien hotel.
The city's next step, Bloomberg said, is to shrink the emergency zone in the surrounding areas after better safeguarding the structure, which continues its slight sway high above the city.
Engineers will be "tying the boom to the building so that they can then work around the top of it" and place safety netting around the building, Bloomberg said.
After that comes the new crane boom, which will extract the damaged one.
The entire process could take weeks, the mayor said.
The crane, damaged Monday afternoon, sits atop a building that is planned to be among the tallest residential structures in Manhattan, offering views that potentially range from Central Park to the city's Financial District.
Lend Lease, which is building the tower, said the crane was inspected October 26 and that the operator left it in the correct position, as was done during previous hazardous weather, including Hurricane Irene.
