Skip to main content

Bridge blast allows new Ohio River crossing

A 213m section of the Old Milton-Madison Bridge was recently blasted into the Ohio River in the United States to make way for a new river crossing. Workers rigged the structure with small controlled explosives and took it down shortly after 9.15am on Sunday 28 July 2013. Small explosive charges were placed at key locations on the bridge. The charges were detonated at intervals to control the direction of the fall. Pieces of the truss will be retrieved from the river, placed on barges, and taken to the shore
July 30, 2013 Read time: 1 min
A 213m section of the Old Milton-Madison Bridge was recently blasted into the Ohio River in the United States to make way for a new river crossing.

Workers rigged the structure with small controlled explosives and took it down shortly after 9.15am on Sunday 28 July 2013.

Small explosive charges were placed at key locations on the bridge. The charges were detonated at intervals to control the direction of the fall.

Pieces of the truss will be retrieved from the river, placed on barges, and taken to the shore for further dismantling and eventually sold for scrap.

Divers are said to be on call to ensure all pieces are removed.

Click on the video link to watch the Old Milton-Madison Bridge blast

Related Content

  • New Midtown Tunnel open in Virginia
    January 30, 2017
    A project to construct the second Midtown Tunnel link in the US state of Virginia alongside the original connection has taken an important step forward – Mike Woof writes Commuters in the US state of Virginia will be pleased that the new Midtown Tunnel is now open to traffic, as it will help to boost capacity and cut congestion on the busy US 58 route connecting Norfolk and Portsmouth. The 1.13km tunnel link has been built to link with the interchange at Brambleton Avenue and Hampton Boulevard in Norfolk
  • Quebec to build new Mercier Bridge for Montreal city
    May 12, 2017
    The Canadian province of Quebec plans to build a US$219 million bridge across the St Lawrence River alongside the existing Mercier Bridge in the city of Montreal. Provincial government cabinet ministers Pierre Moreau and Geoff Kelley confirmed that a new bridge is forthcoming, but gave schedule for procurement or construction start, according to local media. However, Moreau said the work will begin probably before the new Champlain Bridge is finished at the start of 2019. Construction of the new Champlain B
  • Missouri’s Blanchette Bridge gets smaller and smaller
    December 10, 2012
    Missouri’s Blanchette Bridge is now even more abridged. Just a few weeks after explosives took out the West Struss Span, the remaining steel truss on the bridge’s westbound lanes was blown up by demolition crews on Tuesday December 5, 2012. More than 2,000tonnes of steel dropped over 300m into the Missouri River. A 107m section of the Blanchette Bridge was brought down last month. The Blanchette Bridge blasting is part of a US$63 million, year-long project to replace the westbound span.
  • Bertha ends her Alaskan Way voyage in Seattle
    December 21, 2017
    Seattle's State Route 99 viaduct is coming down. David Arminas was on site. Bertha, the world’s largest diameter earth pressure balance tunnel boring machine, with a cutterhead diameter of 17.5m, is no more. Her 2.7km journey underneath the waterfront area of Seattle finished on April 4 and the power went off for the last time on an extraordinary TBM that had finally completed an extraordinary job. “A small sidewalk job would have had more impact on city traffic than we have had,” says Brian Russell a v