Skip to main content

Bang: big bridge blocking boulder broken by blasting

Following a recent earthquake in China, the roads and highways had to be cleared quickly to allow emergency deliveries, as well as general transport. One key bridge was blocked by a massive boulder that had been dislodged by the quake. As the boulder was too large to move using the excavators or bulldozers that the bridge could support, a decision was made to use blasting instead to clear the path. A drilling rig was brought into place and this machine bored a blasthole into the errant boulder, with the hol
April 24, 2013 Read time: 1 min
Following a recent earthquake in China, the roads and highways had to be cleared quickly to allow emergency deliveries, as well as general transport. One key bridge was blocked by a massive boulder that had been dislodged by the quake. As the boulder was too large to move using the excavators or bulldozers that the bridge could support, a decision was made to use blasting instead to clear the path. A drilling rig was brought into place and this machine bored a blasthole into the errant boulder, with the hole then being charged with conventional explosives. The blast then broke the boulder into pieces small enough for lighter machinery to move out of the way, allowing the bridge to be reopened to traffic.

Related Content

  • Intermat’s Middle Eastern opportunity
    January 6, 2017
    More than 200 companies are preparing to take part in INTERMAT Middle East being held at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre from October 8-10 2012. Guy Woodford spoke to the ambassador of the UAE to France and senior figures in three exhibiting companies about the significance of the event and what they are looking to achieve through it.
  • Intermat’s Middle Eastern opportunity
    April 17, 2012
    More than 200 companies are preparing to take part in INTERMAT Middle East being held at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre from October 8-10 2012. Guy Woodford spoke to the ambassador of the UAE to France and senior figures in three exhibiting companies about the significance of the event and what they are looking to achieve through it.
  • New opportunities for connected construction technology
    June 20, 2025

    Trimble is one of the leaders in the field for connected construction technology, with an impressive share of the market as well as a reputation for delivering some of the most sophisticated solutions. The company is keen to retain its role as a leader and is also reinforcing its position in key market segments. 

  • VIDEO captures unloved, unowned Reynolds Bridge reduced to rubble
    May 18, 2015
    There was a big bang in a small town in the US state of Pennsylvania this month when a fragmentation explosion brought down the 100-year-old Reynolds Road Bridge. It was the end to the unloved bridge near Factoryville, population around 1,500. Factoryville is notable for a lack of factories ever since the one and only plant, a wool-into-cloth factory, closed down several years after it opened in the 1800s. Local residents were not sorry to see the felling of the 40m long, reinforced concrete arch deck