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.
Road Structures

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Bridge collapse disaster in Baltimore
    March 26, 2024
    A ship collision has caused a highway bridge collapse in Baltimore.
    Read More
  • Fast flyover removal with specialist demolition equipment
    July 12, 2012
    An overcrowded Indian flyover was removed in record time using specialist demolition equipment, as Patrick Smith reports Demolition of the landmark Lalbaug flyover south of central Mumbai has been completed and work on a new bigger bridge has started in India's largest city. Although the 38-year-old Sant Dnyaneshwar (Lalbaug flyover) two-lane, one-way traffic artery was serviceable and used by to 15,000 vehicles/hour, there were daily traffic jams and environmental consequences. Despite the complex and dema
    Read More
  • Tunnel project of Chilean capital Santiago
    April 8, 2015
    Tunnel construction in Chilean capital Santiago will help cut chronic congestion – Mauro Nogarin & Mike Woof write. Chile’s capital Santiago is a thriving city having benefited from the country’s economy growing strongly in recent years. The massive copper mining sector has helped boost the country’s GDP significantly in the past few decades, also aided by the growing international reputation of Chile’s large wine industry. The steady economic growth has resulted in an equally steady growth in average incom
    Read More
  • New non-destructive testing technologies for roads and bridges
    July 11, 2018
    Two new technologies for non-destructive testing offer key benefits, one suiting road surfaces, the other suiting concrete structures - Kristina Smith reports Dynatest has developed a new way to measure and record the state of pavements, using a machine that travels at the same speed as traffic. The Rapid Pavement Tester (Raptor) has been seven years in the making and offers road owners the chance to have comprehensive surveys without the need to disrupt traffic. “People have been wanting to do this for
    Read More

Highlighted Content