Demolition of unfinished bridges is ‘huge step forward’ on US 20 realignment project
A boom, a blast and in an instant 1,100 tons of concrete and rebar toppled in a poof of dust. For contractors on this sunny September morning, it was two down, three to go as they worked to take out six bents –one bent is made up of two columns and a cap – on the tallest bridge of the U.S. 20 realignment project.
“It may look like a step back to some, but it’s a huge step forward,” said Rick Little, Oregon Department of Transportation spokesman. “After no movement for two years, this is totally moving forward.”
Monday morning’s project was demolishing the Crystal Creek Bridge, which — had the project been successful –would have carried motorists 70 feet above the rugged drainage in the coast range. Instead, within days all that will be left of that ambitious roadway will be a pile of rubble and some very hard earned lessons about building bridges in landslide country.
It cost the state $17.7 million to build the failed bridges, and $877,000 to have them destroyed. The total cost of the project is now budgeted for about $304 million – about twice the original budget of $150 million.
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