Skip to main content

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.

Related Content

  • Sumitomo intends to boost its paver sales worldwide, as vice president international sales Ichiro Shimada explained
    January 6, 2017
    Sumitomo Construction Machinery intends to continue boosting export markets – a project that has been in hand for three years – according to vice president international sales Ichiro Shimada. “Sumitomo is dominant in Japan and we have 70% market share. But the market size is limited, maybe 400 units/year. We’re putting a lot of effort into the Chinese market,” said Shimada. Europe is another key market for Sumitomo and the firm is focussing on countries such as France, Poland and Switzerland, while it has a
  • Sumitomo intends to boost its paver sales worldwide, as vice president international sales Ichiro Shimada explained
    April 18, 2012
    Sumitomo Construction Machinery intends to continue boosting export markets – a project that has been in hand for three years – according to vice president international sales Ichiro Shimada. “Sumitomo is dominant in Japan and we have 70% market share. But the market size is limited, maybe 400 units/year. We’re putting a lot of effort into the Chinese market,” said Shimada. Europe is another key market for Sumitomo and the firm is focussing on countries such as France, Poland and Switzerland, while it has a
  • Insufficient traffic means Norwegian bridge to raise prices?
    August 11, 2014
    Norway’s new Hardanger Bridge is not carrying enough traffic according to the latest data available. According to the statistics for July 2014, some 3,500 vehicles/day crossed over the Hardanger Bridge (Hardangerbrua) in Norway. This was a notable increase from the 2,450 vehicles/day using the link in June 2014. This is higher than the normal volumes due to high levels of summer vacation traffic. However, it is not sufficiently high to hit the planned average of 1,950 vehicles/day for the whole year. The r
  • Topcon launches “Technology Roadshow” for advanced machine automation systems
    April 10, 2014
    What’s the best way to get technology to the end-user? Topcon believes it has the answer with the 2014 edition of the Topcon Technology Roadshow, previewed for industry editors this week in Livermore, Calif.