GREENPOINT — The ad attached to a massive billboard that collapsed on Meeker Avenue and into traffic on the busy Brooklyn-Queens Expressway Friday afternoon was there illegally, city officials said.
Department of Buildings investigators, who are currently probing the cause of the collapse, determined the advertisement was prohibited under the area’s zoning and shouldn’t have been affixed to the large billboard, which came crashing into a building and rained debris on the street and BQE.
The incident caused the partial collapse of 421 Meeker Ave., between Manhattan and Graham avenues, about 2:15 p.m. Friday, the FDNY said. It also crashed into the BQE, stalling traffic on the busy expressway.
There were no reports injuries in the crash, which also caused a gas leak at the address, fire officials said.
On Saturday morning, a lane of westbound traffic on the BQE remained closed as crews worked to remove debris, a Department of Transportation spokesman said. All three lanes of westbound traffic were expected to be open by 4 p.m., the spokesman added.
Officials said that there were no reports of structural damage on the BQE.
Local residents said the advertisement, for the New York Lottery, was added only recently and that the billboard remained without ads for long periods of time.
In addition, billboards are prohibited to be within 200 feet of highways and are allowed one square foot of advertising signage per foot they are located away from highways beyond that range, a DOB spokeswoman said.
The owner of a mechanic shop two doors down from 421 Meeker Ave. said Friday he heard the billboard shaking just before it collapsed, sending him running outside.
"I was afraid it was going to fall and kill us,” Luis Ortega said in Spanish, adding that he heard similar sounds last week and wasn't surprised the billboard collapsed.
"It was shaking and making sounds," he said. "I said to people it was going to fall.”
