Parts Of Hudson River 'Saturated With Junk' From Tappan Zee Bridge Demolition

The east anchor span of the Tappan Zee Bridge, made useless with the introduction of the Mario Cuomo Bridge, was demolished on Tuesday, to the delight of implosion fans gathered along the Hudson river (and watching the video stream online). Contractors did put nets into the river to catch debris... but it seems like not all of it made it into the nets.

NBC New York reports, "Hours after demolition, resident Liam Hatch said he saw remnants of the bridge start washing up ashore, near Matthiessen Park."

Hatch said, "The whole river was saturated with junk... Masks, googles, buckets, planks of wood, even pieces of metal floating throughout." He even spotted some debris as big as a door. He also filmed the debris washing up:

Residents are upset, and the Town of Irvington is trying to calm them down, "The contractors on the bridge are well aware that it is their responsibility to clean it up and they're doing it right now. We are overseeing things to make sure it's done right."

WABC 7 notes, "The original plans were to avoid the use of explosives that could have an impact on fish habitats, but experts determined the old bridge was structurally unsound, preventing workers from continuing a piecemeal takedown." That's why the bridge was exploded with materials like goggles still left behind on it.

Well, for all the havoc to the fish habitats, at least the other parts of the old Tappan Zee have been reefed.

The western span of the old bridge remains standing, and will not be imploded. Lohud reports that workers will "pick apart the remains of the bridge piece by piece with the assistance of massive waterborne cranes" some time later this year.