Bridge demolition at Miami begins

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

A screen capture of the Web cam images published on the Missouri Department of Transportation Web site shows a gap in the Missouri River bridge at Miami where explosive charges were used to begin demolition of the bridge about 8 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27.
(MoDOT/Contributed photo)
[Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

Explosive charges were set off Tuesday morning, Oct. 27, to begin the process of demolition most of the Missouri River bridge at Miami, according to Missouri Department of Transportation officials.

Charges were placed along sections of the bridge to maximize clearance of the steel structure without damaging the concrete piers, according to a MoDOT news release. The piers will be used to support the new bridge once constructed.

Two subsequent implosions will take place over the coming weeks. The implosion can be viewed from the public river access area near the bridge, MoDOT officials said.

An image provided by the Missouri Department of Transportation showing what the Missouri River bridge at Miami will look like when the renovation project is completed next year.
(MoDOT/Contributed photo) [Click to enlarge]
The Miami River Bridge project calls for a partial replacement of the bridge. The overhead truss will be removed along with all the current decking and girders.

When completed, the bridge will have new decking and girders and be 26-feet wide (11-foot lanes with 2-foot shoulders). The life expectancy of the new bridge is 50-plus years.

Last year, explosive charges were used successfully in the demolition of the Missouri River bridget at Glasgow, which was a project nearly identical to the Miami bridge project.

That project has since been completed.

On the Net:
www.modot.mo.gov/northcentral/miamibridg...

Comments

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Volleyballmom, my best guess is that there was a whole lot more to preparing for the setoff of charges than just carrying boxes of explosives out onto the bridge and firing them. They undoubtedly removed a bunch of stuff that could be easily removed, then the charges had to be attached the right way to just the right spots. It's not like the movies where the bad guys light a stick of dynamite with a cigar and throw it onto the middle of the bridge.

-- Posted by TerryM on Tue, Oct 27, 2009, at 12:37 PM

Why did they close the bridge so early if they were going to start working on it this late? Going through Malta Bend has been a big inconvience because of the road construction. I live in Brunswick and now instead of a 30 minute drive it takes me at least 55 minutes. But when they are working on the highway it could take up to an additional 20-30 minutes. I hope this bridge is worth all the extra trouble it is causing. I know I could go through Slater, but that is a little longer and the deer are worse on that stretch of highway.

-- Posted by volleyballmom on Tue, Oct 27, 2009, at 11:49 AM

Response by Eric Crump/Editor:

The bridge demolition was originally supposed to begin last week but was postponed because of problems.