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

  • Kronprinsesse Marys Bro bridges Roskilde Fjord
    January 10, 2019
    A BESIX joint venture is giving the royal treatment to the new Kronprinsesse Marys Bro across Roskilde Fjord, writes David Arminas It was announced in September 2016 that Belgian group BESIX, in a joint venture (RBAI) with Italian firm Rizzani de Eccher and Spanish company Acciona Infraestructuras, had been chosen for the €133 million project. The award, by client Vejdirektoratet (Danish Road Directorate), marked the entry of BESIX into the Scandinavian market. Vejdirektoratet praised the winning bid as
    Read More
  • Technology and collaboration bring massive time savings
    December 2, 2021
    The link between any major city and its airport is a crucial one. In Auckland, New Zealand, State Highway 20B connects the city of 1.6 million people with the rest of the nation and the international airport, one of only two roads leading there
    Read More
  • Joy riding
    August 15, 2019
    Our Skidmarks page is highly rated by readers. Your input could help make this page even more entertaining. If you come across any amusing road-related stories or pictures email me at [email protected] JOY RIDING A couple in the US recently took advantage of the self-driving features of a Tesla car for reasons other than transportation. They ignored the suggestions from Tesla to remain alert even when the vehicle was using its self-drive mode and instead engaged in sexual acts, which they recorded on vid
    Read More
  • Major producer of road construction materials
    February 10, 2012
    The Simge Group operates a massive and highly modern quarrying operation close to the Turkish city of Bursan, which provides a major supply of aggregates and asphalt to the country's highway construction sector. This quarry produces around 4 million tonnes/year of crushed limestone and is the largest of the five quarries the Simge Group runs in Turkey, which have a combined output of 12 million tonnes/year. The huge site has an asphalt output of 500,000tonnes/year, again a significant portion of the 1.2 mil
    Read More

Highlighted Content