At least three people are injured after a crane collapsed on New York's Tappan Zee bridge

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A large construction crane collapsed on a busy New York bridge on Tuesday, injuring at least three people and snarling traffic in both directions, county officials said.

The crane collapsed at about noon on the Tappan Zee Bridge, which is under construction to replace the original span built in the 1950s over the Hudson River. It connects Rockland County in the north to New York City's suburbs.

At least three people suffered minor injuries from swerving their cars to avoid colliding with the crashed crane, Rockland County said on Twitter.

NBC News aerial footage showed emergency responders pulling at least two people from cars and one being loaded onto a stretcher. Traffic was backed up for miles, the video showed.

The bridge, which opened in 1955, is the longest in New York state. The nearly $4 billion renovation began in 2013, according to the state's The New NY Bridge website on the project.

Construction is expected to be completed by 2018, according to the website of Tappan Zee Constructors, a consortium of firms working on the project in conjunction with the New York State Thruway Authority.

A number of news outlets and bystanders posted photos and videos of the aftermath on social media: