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PennDOT contractor blasts part of North Side's 31st Street Bridge
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A demolition contractor successfully blasted a decayed section of the 31st Street Bridge into the back channel of the Allegheny River on Pittsburgh's North Side.
The blast occurred almost precisely at the scheduled hour of 10 a.m. with traffic halted on Route 28 and a 1,000-foot perimeter cleared around the blast site. Traffic quickly returned to normal.
A small crowd gathered on the pedestrian bridge on Washington's Landing cheered the demise of the 195-foot-long bridge section.
It was removed as part of PennDOT's Route 28 reconstruction project. A new section of bridge will connect to a grade-separated interchange that will allow continuous flow of Route 28 traffic.
"It went well. Everything went as planned," PennDOT spokesman Jim Struzzi said.
First Published August 16, 2012 10:25 am
