Kentucky’s 1931 Ledbetter road Bridge comes to an explosive end

Specialist demolition contractors working for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet have successfully brought down one truss span of the Old Ledbetter Bridge near Paducah. The bridge has been taking traffic across the Mississippi River since 1931. Boat traffic on the Tennessee River was halted for about 90 minutes by the U.S. Coast Guard. KYTC said there were several audible warning signals, then a countdown, followed by a flash and puff of smoke from the explosive charges. As sound of the explosion echoed a
October 1, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
Specialist demolition contractors working for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet have successfully brought down one truss span of the Old Ledbetter Bridge near Paducah. The bridge has been taking traffic across the Mississippi River since 1931.

Boat traffic on the Tennessee River was halted for about 90 minutes by the U.S. Coast Guard. KYTC said there were several audible warning signals, then a countdown, followed by a flash and puff of smoke from the explosive charges. As sound of the explosion echoed along the river banks, KYTC said the steel truss dropped into about 30 feet (10m) of water below the bridge.

Once an all-clear was issued, river traffic was allowed to resume and a crane was moved in to start pulling steel from the river. The constractor believes it should take about 48 hours to remove the steel and place it on barges to be hauled to a scrap yard.

See it happen on the video below, which was forwarded to World Highways by Demolition News website:
Road Structures Engines, Components & Tyres

Related Content

  • THIS is a Paving Project– The I-15 CORE
    December 20, 2012
    Provo, Utah – The scope of the I-15 Corridor Expansion Project (I-15 CORE) in the state of Utah is nearly unprecedented because of the size of the project and the short completion deadline. Twenty-four miles (38.6 km) of removal and replacement of Interstate 15 between Lehi and Spanish Fork, widening the number of traveling lanes by two, for up to six lanes in each direction in 35 months. The new 364 lane miles (586 km) of concrete roadway will be slipformed 12 or 12.5 inches (305 or 318 mm) thick for a tot
    Read More
  • Contracts are about to be signed for the Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link
    March 13, 2015
    Nearly eight years after Denmark and Germany agreed to construct a major undersea road and rail tunnel, the first contracts are about to be signed. David Arminas reports. Construction is due to start later this year on one of Europe’s most ambitious, as well as the world’s longest, road and rail tunnels, the 17.6km Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link between Germany and Denmark. Fehmarnbelt is expected to cost around US$7.5 billion and be five times the length of the Øresund tunnel between the Danish capital Copenhagen
    Read More
  • Contracts are about to be signed for the Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link
    March 13, 2015
    Nearly eight years after Denmark and Germany agreed to construct a major undersea road and rail tunnel, the first contracts are about to be signed. David Arminas reports. Construction is due to start later this year on one of Europe’s most ambitious, as well as the world’s longest, road and rail tunnels, the 17.6km Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link between Germany and Denmark. Fehmarnbelt is expected to cost around US$7.5 billion and be five times the length of the Øresund tunnel between the Danish capital Copenhagen
    Read More
  • 48 hours re-opening
    July 6, 2012
    Using demolition tools from Atlas Copco helped to maximise productivity on a highly time-sensitive project in Germany. The A3 autobahn runs from the Dutch/German border through the western part of the Ruhr area, the Cologne area, the Rhine-Main area and Bavaria down to the Austrian border at Stuben. It is one of the most heavily used highways in Germany and because of increasing traffic volumes, widening the road to six lanes has become necessary.
    Read More

Highlighted Content