September 9, 2004

Bridge demolition 2004-05

Photos by Don Frazier, Fred Lynch, Joel Ray, and Fred Harl

July 8, 2004: A crew worked on the Illinois side of the old bridge to prepare for blasting of the eastern spans in August.

Aug. 3: A crowd of spectators await the first blast.

Sept. 9

Aug. 3: As seen from a helicopter, dust rises from the blast that dropped the four sections on the Illinois end.

Sept. 23: The demolition crew detonates the blast dropping the last 314-foot span.

Sept. 23

Sept. 29: The last remaining steel span is blasted into the river.

Sept. 29

Oct. 19: Salvage workers were dwarfed by the large backhoe used to dredge the Mississippi River for chunks of concrete as demolition worked continued to remove the old bridge piers.

Nov. 3: Demolition crews blasted Pier 3 into rubble.

Nov. 9: Another scheduled blast took rock skipping on the river to a new level.

Mar. 12, 2005: Workers place blast mats on the remaining pier, in preparation for the explosion.

Aug. 26: The second blast takes out the next 314-foot span.

Mar. 12: The area is cleared minutes before the blast.

Mar. 12: The underwater explosion demolishes the pier.

Aug. 26: The second blast as seen from the north side.

Aug. 26

Sept. 9

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