Officials say it will take just 3.5 seconds for the Fort Steuben Bridge to come down.
The Fort Steuben bridge linking Ohio and West Virginia will be demolished on 20 February, and yesterday, contractors laid out their plans for the implosion.
Because it’s a suspension bridge, crews will plant nearly 500 explosives in strategic places to break the bridge up into pieces in a sequence.
“So basically what you’ll see is we’ll commence on the Ohio side of the river. You’ll see a flash go across the river from Ohio to West Virginia. You’ll see the cables severed and you’ll see the towers lay out,” said Doug Loizeaux of Controlled Demolition Inc. “Now we aren’t going to detonate everything at once — there will be a slight delay — but the entire sequence for the explosive’s initiation should take about three-tenths of a second.”
Several parts of the bridge have already been removed to prepare for the demolition.
“We’ve got 490 locations across the whole bridge for charges — that’s between the cables, the trusses and the towers,” Loizeaux said.
Read more and view a news video here.
Please note: The Fort Steuben Bridge demolition is scheduled for 7:15 am local time on Tuesday 20 February and will be streamed LIVE on WTOV9.com.
