Ohio Bridge Demolished: Video Shows Final Section Demolished in Explosion (PHOTO, VIDEO)
An Ohio bridge has been demolished this week 30 minutes ahead of the scheduled time as crews working on the demolishment moved to complete their work before bad weather moved in.
The final section of the Milton-Madison Bridge was demolished this week as part of a project to tear down the bridge that has stood for 84 years.
Construction on the original bridge was started just two months after the stock market crash that sparked the Great Depression. At that time towns on both sides of the bridge in Milton, Ky and Madison, Indiana, agreed to erect the bridge after they agreed the invention of the automobile had rendered ferries obsolete.
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The bridge cost about $1 million to build, and a toll was put in place to recoup some of the costs; 5 cents was charged for foot traffic, and 45 cents was charged to vehicles crossing over.
In 2008 the two cities again came to an agreement to demolish the old bridge and commence a project to replace it. The old bridge's age and condition, as well as the fact that it is only 20 feet wide, sparked the decision to replace the bridge with a new modern version that can better serve the two towns.
The cost of the bridge has been estimated at about $131 million, with $20 million of that to be offset with a grant from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.
Here is a video showing the bridge explosion as the final section of the old bridge was demolished this week:
