Skip to main content

Explosive demolition of US421 bridge over Ohio River

The fourth and final section of the Milton-Madison Bridge in the US has now been demolished. This aged 740m long structure was no longer able to cope with the traffic volumes along the route and has been demolished to make way for a new bridge. The bridge connects the US states of Indiana and Kentucky and has provided a key traffic route for the busy US421 over the Ohio River for many years. In a rather innovative piece of engineering, the new bridge has been constructed alongside the old structure and even
September 23, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
The fourth and final section of the Milton-Madison Bridge in the US has now been demolished. This aged 740m long structure was no longer able to cope with the traffic volumes along the route and has been demolished to make way for a new bridge. The bridge connects the US states of Indiana and Kentucky and has provided a key traffic route for the busy US421 over the Ohio River for many years. In a rather innovative piece of engineering, the new bridge has been constructed alongside the old structure and even using the same supports. This made the demolition particularly tricky due to the very close proximity of the new structure, now being used to carry traffic, to the old bridge. Traffic was halted during the explosive demolition, which was highly successful with the remnants of the old structure falling where planned and the new link being undamaged by the blasting work. With the old structure removed, the new and much wider bridge can now be slid directly over the old supports. This work will be carried out once the existing supports have been strengthened and modified. When the new link is in place over the supports, the restrictions on the size of vehicles using the bridge will then be lifted.

Thanks to 6755 Demolition News for alerting us to this story.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • German bridge demolition work assisted by Liebherr
    May 9, 2022
    Construction equipment from Liebherr has played an important role in the project to demolish a bridge in Germany.
  • Bridge demolition with breakers
    May 5, 2021
    Hydraulic breakers from Italian firm Indeco have been used successfully to carry out important work on the Princes Freeway in Australia’s Victoria State.
  • VIDEO: UK overnight bridge demolition job
    May 16, 2016
    A spectacular video shows footage a key bridge demolition job in the UK. The bridge crossing the busy A38 near Plymouth was demolished during a weekend possession on the 14th and 15th of May 2016. The footage has been released by 8100 Highways England and shows the old Merafield Bridge at Plympton being demolished overnight on Saturday 14th May, marking the final stage of a £6.3 million maintenance project on the A38.
  • Three Colombian bridge projects commencing
    January 17, 2019
    In Colombia progress is being seen on three major bridge projects located in different parts of the country. Construction of the new Pumajero Bridge is well in hand and is expected to be complete before the end of 2019. The new PumajeroBbridge will be 2,247m in length and have 990m of viaduct connections and access, as well as two three-lane carriageways on each side. Once the new bridge is open to traffic, the old cable-stayed concrete link between Baranquilla and Sitionuevo will be demolished. The new