PIERRE, S.D. – Hundreds of people lined the banks of the Missouri River in Pierre and Fort Pierre Monday morning to watch the girder demolition of the former John C. Waldron Memorial Bridge. Just after 9:00AM (CT), shape charges brought the steel supports of the bridge down to the river.
Construction experts demolished the old bridge that had stood since the 1960s across the Missouri River between Pierre and Fort Pierre. The giant span was replaced last year by a new bridge between the two cities.
Crews this winter had already removed the concrete bridge deck on the old bridge.
Traffic on US 14 and US 83 was diverted from the new bridge for a half hour on Monday starting at 9 a.m. Police watercraft and other security kept boaters a safe distance from both sides of the bridges. Boat traffic and pedestrians will be kept out of the immediate area for the next 24 hours.
Crews using cranes on barges will now remove the steel girders from the water, according to the South Dakota Department of Transportation engineer for the Pierre area. The contractor’s monthly schedule shows that full clean-up is estimated to take three to four weeks pending weather.
“The contractor will utilize strategically placed barges, buoys and lights to keep river enthusiasts out of areas where cleanup is commencing and direct boaters where they can safely pass through,” Dean VanDeWiele told KELOLAND News.
The blast took down the steel framework of the old bridge. Still standing undamaged upstream were the new bridge as well as the old railroad bridge that carries train traffic on a regular basis.
The blast stunned the crowd, as well as resident seagulls and likely fish in the river. A one-thousand-foot safety zone was placed around the bridge, and traffic over the new Waldron bridge was halted for 30 minutes during the operation. Onlookers were amazed by the force of the explosion.
