Morgan St Bridge Blown Up
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(WIFR) — It’s the end of an era. Workers have been slowly dismantling the 50-year-old Morgan Street Bridge for months and today they finished the job.
It happened a little after 1:45 this afternoon after a few hours delay. Workers had been drilling holes into the structure all morning so they could place more explosives. The plan is to rebuild over the next few years.
Previously:
ROCKFORD (WIFR) – Crews will demolish the Morgan Street Bridge this morning around 11:30.
The effects of the blast will be much like that of a severe thunderstorm clap and should have very little ground resonance due to the areal nature of the detonation.
Contractor personnel and Police will be on site to ensure that all spectators are kept a safe distance from the demolition zone.
Neighbors have already been informed of the pending activity and a contractor has inspected and documented existing conditions of buildings and fixtures within the affected zone.
City of Rockford Director of Public Works Tim Hanson said, “Today was a moment in time that was historical and it went off without a hitch.”
After drilling and filling 125 holes with 65 pounds of dynamite, the Morgan Street Bridge came tumbling down.
Hanson said, “We were not able to go across it. It was restricted on weight. You could not take any heavy vehicles across it.”
The bridge shut down last August. Demolition crews have since been working to get to this point. Next week the left over piers will be blown up.
Rockford City Engineer Matthew Vitner said, “Removal of the piers will be processed below the river bed.”
So that it doesn’t remain an obstruction when all is said and done. The new bridge will completely span the river so there’ll be nothing in the river for the new bridge.
It will take 4.2 million pounds of steel to rebuild a new one. The entire project costs 40 million dollars.
Construction will begin once the piers are demolished. The City of Rockford is looking to complete the bridge by March 2014.
Some neighbors were worried that the demolition might cause damage to homes in the area. To make sure that wasn’t the case the survey crews placed monitoring devices in the neighborhoods to make sure nothing got too rattled.
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