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

  • Netherlands: Velsertunnel to be closed for nine months
    April 19, 2016
    The 60-year-old road and rail Velsertunnel in the Netherlands will be closed from now until the end of the year for major renovations. Improvements to the Velsertunnel beneath the North Sea Canal are scheduled for the road sections only, according to the Rijkswaterstaat, the Dutch government’s Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, and the consortium doing the work. Rijkswaterstaat awarded a design/build/maintain contract in 2014 to Hyacint, a consortium of Besix, Dura Vermeer, and Spie, supp
  • Gordie Howe Bridge progresses with community support money pledged
    June 18, 2019
    The Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority and other agencies involved in the US$4.25 billion Gordie Howe International Bridge have pledged millions of dollars in community support. WDBA, contractor Bridging North America, the US state of Michigan and the federal Canadian government announced the support plan, which involves more than 30 agencies and organisations, according to a report by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The plan includes a $15 million Neighbourhood Infrastructure Strategy for both s
  • Angolan project wins IRF Construction Methodology Award
    June 14, 2012
    Engineering firm Exergia completes vital communication route using innovative construction methodology. The devastation caused by a 35-year armed conflict has led to a high state of degradation of Angola’s network of roads and bridges, presenting a significant impediment to the country’s recovery. In 2002, the Government of Angola created an extensive rehabilitation and reconstruction program of the road system. As part of this program, the rehabilitation of National Highway 120, the main road linking
  • TESMEC Group’s multi-purpose solutions
    April 9, 2013
    The design and production of high powered tracked trenchers for linear excavation and bulk excavation and surface mining is one of many areas of expertise associated with the TESMEC Group. TESMEC also designs and manufactures machines and integrated systems for the stringing and maintenance of power lines; integrated solutions for the efficiency, the management and the monitoring of power grids; machines for the stringing, maintenance and diagnostic of railway power lines; and the design and production of G