First phase of Blanchette Bridge demolition competed with big bang.
Almost 700 tonnes of structural steel was dropped into the Missouri River yesterday as the first phase of the demolition of the Blanchette Bridge took out the West Truss Span.
“We’ve got to take a lot of steel down in a short amount of time. This was just the most efficient way to do it,” says MoDot Area Engineer Tom Evers.
He says crews are on a tight schedule. “They have 48 hours to take out this span. And the next blast, they’ll have a shorter amount of time because they’re in the navigation channel. So they’ll have 24 hours to take that one out.”
Tom Evers says demolition will continue through December, and the rebuilding begins in 2013.
Read more here, or view the video below:
