Second Section of Bridge Set For Blasting
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowAnother section of the Milton-Madison Bridge is set to come down in southeast Indiana this morning. Officials say Idaho-based Advanced Explosives Demolition Inc. crews will use controlled explosions to separate the 550-foot-long portion closest to Kentucky. July 30, 2013
News Release
Louisville, Ky. – A second section of the old US 421 Milton-Madison Bridge is scheduled to be demolished on Thursday, August 1, weather permitting. The 550-foot- long section nearest the Milton, Ky., shore will be brought down using controlled explosives by Advanced Explosives Demolition Inc., the company that demolished another section of the bridge last week.
The demolition will require the closure of the new bridge starting at approximately 9:00 a.m. on August 1. Other roads within the designated 1,000-foot safety perimeter will also be closed. The new bridge and surrounding roads are expected to reopen to traffic at or before 11:00 a.m.
River traffic will be closed starting at approximately 9:00 a.m. and will also reopen at or before 11:00 a.m. Recreational boaters are required to stay 1,000 feet from the bridge during the blast. An FAA no-fly zone of 2,000 feet will be in effect prior to and during the blast.
Pieces of the truss will be retrieved from the river, placed on barges, taken to the shore for further dismantling and eventually sold for scrap. Divers are on call to ensure all pieces are removed from the river.
During the bridge closure, drivers can detour 26 miles upstream at the Markland Locks and Dam Bridge.
The remainder of the 2,427-foot-long bridge will be demolished in two separate blasts over the next several weeks.
Once the old truss is completely removed, the original piers will be widened to accommodate the new 40-foot-wide bridge which is currently on temporary piers. The final step comes later this year, when the new bridge will be slid onto the renovated original piers.
The Milton-Madison Bridge Project – a joint effort between the Indiana Department of Transportation and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet – has received numerous awards. It was named one of the top 10 bridge projects in the country by Roads and Bridges Magazine, received a 2012 Best of What’s New Award from Popular Science magazine and received several state and national engineering awards for innovation. For more information, visit www.MiltonMadisonBridge.com or follow the project on Twitter.
Source: Indiana Department of Transportation, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet