Three people died and three more were seriously injured when two cars and two tractor-trailers fell with the bridge into the Mianus River 70 feet (21.3 m) below.

[5] The collapse was caused by the failure of two pin and hanger assemblies that held the deck in place on the outer side of the bridge, according to an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.

[6] Rust formed within the bearing of the pin, exerting a force on the hanger which was beyond design limits for the retaining clamps.

When two heavy trucks and a car entered the section, the remaining expansion joint failed, and the deck crashed into the river below.

He made the additional notes with a finer pencil, and thus he was found out and due to his long record of good service, given one-year of probation rather than fired.

[9] After the collapse, the almost 90,000 vehicles that used the bridge daily were diverted onto US-1 and local streets in Greenwich, causing the worst traffic problems the town had ever seen.

The Town of Greenwich Health Department monitored the environmental impact, providing advice through the issuance of special bulletins to residents along the temporary routes.

The interstate was not fully reopened until September, and then only with a temporary truss carrying two lanes of northbound traffic instead of the usual three.