Pittsburgh bridge blasted

Explosive demolition has been used to remove an old highway bridge in Pennsylvania. Some 90kg of explosives were used to blast the pre-weakened steel structure of the 87 year-old Masontown Bridge. The redundant steel truss structure lay just 3m from the new bridge now carrying Route 21 over the Monongahela River and connecting Masontown with Monongahela Township. The location of the explosives and the pre-weakening work carried out however meant that the old structure, built in 1925 and upgraded in 1933, fe
October 7, 2013 Read time: 1 min
Explosive demolition has been used to remove an old highway bridge in Pennsylvania. Some 90kg of explosives were used to blast the pre-weakened steel structure of the 87 year-old Masontown Bridge. The redundant steel truss structure lay just 3m from the new bridge now carrying Route 21 over the Monongahela River and connecting Masontown with Monongahela Township. The location of the explosives and the pre-weakening work carried out however meant that the old structure, built in 1925 and upgraded in 1933, fell as planned and without any damage to the new bridge. Traffic was halted on Route 21 for the blast.
Road Structures

Related Content

  • Building Egypt's world class Desert Highway
    April 13, 2012
    A huge highway upgrade project will transform the Cairo-Alexandria road link into a world-class connection as Mike Woof reports. The work to upgrade the Desert Highway connecting Egypt's sprawling capital Cairo with its major port Alexandria, is one of the country's largest infrastructure projects for many years. This 220km highway link is being widened and improved to cope with the hugely increased traffic volumes resulting partly from Egypt's fast growing vehicle population. The Egyptian economy is strong
    Read More
  • Innovative, flexible bridge formwork systems
    February 14, 2012
    Innovative formwork systems have been used to construct a variety of bridge structures. Patrick Smith reports. As part of the work on Germany's new A4 autobahn near Eisenach, the contracting joint venture awarded the formwork contract for two of the three viaducts to Doka. What makes this assignment so special to the company is that although the two steel composite bridges each have very different cross-sections, the JV is using the same overslung composite forming carriage to pour the carriageway slabs of
    Read More
  • Australian bridge slides into position
    July 18, 2012
    A heavy rail crossing as part of Australia's EastLink motorway demanded great ingenuity and careful planning Most of the 88 bridges on the EastLink tolled motorway in, Melbourne, Australia were kept as simple and straightforward as possible. Contractor Thiess John Holland (TJH) developed its own precast yard 150km from the city, which provided many of the prefabricated materials required for the structures. This offered speed and economy while logistics and sequencing were vital for their erection. But the
    Read More
  • Storstrom Bridge to be Denmark’s third longest
    March 8, 2018
    Form and functionality come together in Denmark’s latest Storstrom Bridge design. David Arminas reports. An Italian joint venture recently won the construction contract for what will be one of Denmark’s longest bridges, the replacement 4km-long road and rail Storstrom Bridge. The Danish Road Directorate - Vejdirektoratet - awarded the work to a joint venture of Condotte and Grandi Lavori Fincosit along with bridge design consultant Seteco Ingegneria as a subcontractor. Estimated cost is around €550 milli
    Read More

Highlighted Content