Skip to main content

VIDEO - Bridge demolition going wrong

June 17, 2015
A bridge demolition job went spectacularly wrong in Finland recently. Luckily for all concerned, there were no casualties, but it could have quite easily been a different story. A demolition contractor was using an excavator fitted with a hydraulic breaker to break up the structure, but the work was carrying on despite live traffic flowing on the road under the bridge.

Note too the behaviour of drivers on the route after the initial collapse.

This video came just as the European Demolition Association headed to Finland’s capital Helsinki to discuss best practice.

The Viitostiellä Mikkelissä bridge collapsed following a few blows from a hydraulic hammer to the deck, suggesting the structure was in a very poor condition indeed.

Related Content

  • New M90 surfacing in the UK gain praise
    January 8, 2013
    Early evaluation of surfacing work on the M90 at Rosyth – the first major application of Scotland’s new TS2010 specification – has earned positive praise. Transport Scotland’s determination to obtain pavement that is durable, long lasting and safe (especially in early life) is clearly apparent on the M90 just north of the Forth Road Bridge. Here surfacing has been carried out this spring to TS2010, a tough new specification designed to ensure thin surfacing pavements that work. And the initial prognosis is
  • Innovative, flexible bridge formwork systems
    February 14, 2012
    Innovative formwork systems have been used to construct a variety of bridge structures. Patrick Smith reports. As part of the work on Germany's new A4 autobahn near Eisenach, the contracting joint venture awarded the formwork contract for two of the three viaducts to Doka. What makes this assignment so special to the company is that although the two steel composite bridges each have very different cross-sections, the JV is using the same overslung composite forming carriage to pour the carriageway slabs of
  • China banks on the Belt and Road Initiative
    October 8, 2019
    Changsha, the capital of Hunan province, is capitalising on its well-established equipment and componentry manufacturing base as China’s global Belt and Road Initiative gathers momentum.
  • Safety measures aid workzone accident reduction
    February 20, 2012
    Everyone connected with the highway industry is involved in the efforts to cut down the number of work zone accidents. Patrick Smith reports. A few months ago, as road work resumed on America's highways and bridges, US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood called on drivers to use extra caution in work zones. At the same time he commended the success in reducing overall roadway fatalities in each of the last seven years.