Bringing down a bridge

Construction crews plan to implode a 314-foot section of the partially razed Mississippi River bridge at Cape Girardeau early today, weather permitting, as work continues to demolish the 76-year-old span.

This will be the second blast and the first that will drop a part of the metal bridge structure into the Mississippi River, where barge cranes will remove the debris, Missouri Transportation Department officials said.

The first blast occurred Aug. 3, bringing down three piers and metal spans stretching about 1,250 feet on the Illinois shore.

This time around the blast could be louder for bystanders on the Missouri shore.

The demolition work involves different explosives than used earlier this month and more explosives on the steel trusses themselves rather than in the pier foundations, said MoDOT engineer Stan Johnson.

The charges will cut through the steel, sending the bridge section crashing into the river.

The public will be kept back 1,500 feet from the old bridge.

Traffic again will be stopped for about 10 minutes on the nearby Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge to allow for the blasting, Johnson said.

The remainder of the bridge span is scheduled to be removed in three more blasts, which are expected to be completed by mid-September, he said. Other blasts will follow underwater to remove pier footings before year's end.

MoDOT is spending $2.23 million to remove the old, narrow bridge, which opened in 1928.

After today's blast, demolition crews will focus on imploding an adjoining span that is also 314 feet in length.

Once that is done, crews will implode the bridge's major span in two separate blasts. The first blast will take down the 671-foot-long section of the span nearest the Missouri shore. The last implosion will take down the remaining 671-foot-long section of that major span.

"They will both be worth watching," Johnson said of the implosions planned on the main span of the bridge. "You will see a little bit bigger splash. That is what people want to see," he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123