Portion of railroad bridge in Syracuse collapses, no one hurt

The 500 block of Clinton St. in Syracuse remains closed Friday after the sidewall of an elevated railroad track in downtown Syracuse collapsed Thursday afternoon. No one was injured, but the debris did knock over a streetlight. 

Syracuse Police Chief Frank Fowler said they are in the beginning stages of an investigation, but it does not appear that anything struck the bridge prior to the collapse.

“We’re extremely fortunate that in addition to the pedestrians that generally congregate here, this is also a pretty busy street for vehicle traffic," Fowler said. "The debris is well out into the roadway and we were very fortunate that we didn’t have a vehicle either sitting here idle or driving through the area at the time of the collapse.”

The bridge is owned by New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway. Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh said his administration will be collecting condition reports from the federal government on every stretch of bridge throughout the city, to make sure this does not happen again.