Skip to main content

VIDEO captures unloved, unowned Reynolds Bridge reduced to rubble

There was a big bang in a small town in the US state of Pennsylvania this month when a fragmentation explosion brought down the 100-year-old Reynolds Road Bridge. It was the end to the unloved bridge near Factoryville, population around 1,500. Factoryville is notable for a lack of factories ever since the one and only plant, a wool-into-cloth factory, closed down several years after it opened in the 1800s. Local residents were not sorry to see the felling of the 40m long, reinforced concrete arch deck
May 18, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
There was a big bang in a small town in the US state of Pennsylvania this month when a fragmentation explosion brought down the 100-year-old Reynolds Road Bridge.

It was the end to the unloved bridge near Factoryville, population around 1,500. Factoryville is notable for a lack of factories ever since the one and only plant, a wool-into-cloth factory, closed down several years after it opened in the 1800s.

Local residents were not sorry to see the felling of the 40m long, reinforced concrete arch deck bridge over a Canadian Pacific Railway line. For three years the ugly bridge deep within the beautiful Endless Mountain region of north eastern Pennsylvania had been closed because it was crumbling, not just into disrepair, but literally disintegrating.

Metres and metres of rebar along the pedestrian way were laid bare where nature had eroded away concrete. Parts of the structure, named after one of the first settlers in the region, Captain Robert Reynolds, had fallen into the ravine below. Earlier this month the rest of the bridge very quickly followed, when implosion subcontractor CDI shrouded the bridge and ended 100 years of history, and some recent confusion.

The bridge fell into disrepair because it also fell into a legal crack – no person, agency, company or local authority would acknowledge ownership, leaving the bridge in limbo, according to local media. When the old railway company, whose rail lines ran underneath the structure, went bankrupt, the bridge reportedly was not sold off with other assets and this went unnoticed for years, until repairs became urgent in the past decade or so.

Demolition was paid for by the Canadian Pacific Railroad, who now owns the rail lines that were running underneath the demolished bridge, according to local TV station WNEP.

%$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal Click here Visit crumbling bridge demolished Page false http://wnep.com/2015/05/14/crumbling-bridge-demolished/ false false%> to see local media reports on the bridge’s condition just before demolition.

Related Content

  • Far from formulaic
    January 6, 2017
    Formwork solutions for the first axial suspension cable stayed bridge in India; and a four-lane road bridge in Germany’s Harz Mountains, are among the latest bridge-based formwork projects analysed by Guy Woodford RMD Kwikform India has won the contract to design and supply shoring and formwork solutions for the first axial suspension cable stayed bridge ever built in India. The Kota Bridge’s innovative design sees a single 350m span cross the entire width of the Chambal River, with three approach spans on
  • Far from formulaic
    January 17, 2013
    Formwork solutions for the first axial suspension cable stayed bridge in India; and a four-lane road bridge in Germany’s Harz Mountains, are among the latest bridge-based formwork projects analysed by Guy Woodford RMD Kwikform India has won the contract to design and supply shoring and formwork solutions for the first axial suspension cable stayed bridge ever built in India. The Kota Bridge’s innovative design sees a single 350m span cross the entire width of the Chambal River, with three approach spans on
  • Sunderland’s sliding bridge slips across the Wear
    October 26, 2016
    Slowly but surely, a 2,500 tonne section of a new bridge deck was eased out from the banks of the River Wear near Sunderland in northern England. It now straddles the water, pointing towards the opposite bank which it will eventually reach after another sliding operation next year likely. The project to build the New Wear Crossing is now half way through with the first half of the steel deck bridge poised mid-river. Completion of the bridge is expected in the spring of 2018. This month, hydraulic jack
  • Haulotte sees sales growth in 2012
    January 6, 2017
    French access and telehandler manufacturer Haulotte returned to profit in 2012 and, though the first quarter of 2013 is down year-on-year, CEO Alexandre Saubot remains confident about continued growth this year. “We achieved a decent performance in 2012 with almost 16% growth,” said Saubot. “2013 will remain a challenge for us, we will have to continue to work hard for sales growth.”