Saturday’s planned opening of the second span of the new Mario M. Cuomo Bridge over the Hudson River was delayed after a piece of the bridge it is replacing became destabilized and threatened to fall, officials said.

Matthew Driscoll, the executive director of the New York State Thruway Authority, said “a potentially dangerous situation” developed Friday when a piece of the old Tappan Zee Bridge became destabilized during the process of being disassembled.

He said the opening of the eastbound span of the new bridge, named after former New York governor Mario Cuomo, would be delayed “out of an abundance of caution.”

The issue arose hours after Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the late former governor’s son, held a grand opening ceremony for the new bridge span. Joined by one-time Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Cuomo said Friday that the new bridge “shows the world that we’re capable of dreaming big and delivering results for the people of this state.”

Cuomo’s rivals suggested that he had opened the new span prematurely to garner positive coverage ahead of Thursday’s primary election.

“A ribbon-cutting ceremony should not have been held if the bridge span was not yet safe,” Cuomo’s primary opponent, actress Cynthia Nixon, said in a statement Saturday. “There are real, reasonable questions about whether this bridge span opening was accelerated to aid the governor’s campaign.”

Nixon is expected to visit the bridge Sunday afternoon and is calling for an investigation, saying Cuomo rushed the opening of the bridge.

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Related: Cuomo Bridge: ‘Dangerous situation’ on Tappan Zee halts opening of new Westchester-bound span