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VIDEO: Broadway Bridge defies demolition experts, for a time

October 12, 2016
A 100-year old steel arch bridge in the United States stood firm for a time against the blasts laid down by demolition experts.

The structure connected the cities of Little Rock and North Little Rock in the state of Arkansas. It carried U.S. Route 70 but was finally closed on 28 September.

Although Broadway Bridge, spanning the Arkansas River, was built almost a century ago, the steel arches were added 60 years later as part of a strengthening project to the under-structure to widen the river navigation channel.

Danny Straessle, spokesman for the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, said the bridge was an example of just how tough many of the century-old bridges were.

Five hours after the explosions and shortly before 15:00 hours on 11 October, the weakened bridge finally gave up the ghost.

An %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal Arkansas Times report Visit www.arktimes.com website false http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2016/10/11/big-bang-on-broadway-set-for-10-am false false%>shows the remains of the bridge lying on its side in the river.

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