Five years ago on October 6th the first span of the old Liberty Memorial Bridge came down. Taking down this landmark was particularly tricky on the Mandan side, because the old and new bridges were so close together. Drop the old one incorrectly, and we’d be picking pieces of TWO bridges out of the Big Muddy! Nobody wanted that.
The west span came down in a blaze of glory, being cut into pieces by shaped charges and dropped into the drink in 26 large chunks (plus assorted debris).
I staked out a place on the fake riverboat at Steamboat Park early that morning. At 7:30 people were already parked and waiting. I got a great spot, met lots of really neat people, and got some great photos and video. Click below to watch the big bang, both in real-time and slow motion. You’ll hear my camera shutter going mad in the background.
Notice how the camera shook from the shock wave. I don’t think anybody, myself included, expected such an enormous BOOM from those charges!
This was the debris pile that was removed piece by piece. The concrete piers were detonated and removed separately later on while workers prepared to detonate the remaining spans later in October.
Getting photos of the remaining spans’ detonation was more difficult. I hiked a long ways from the Mandan side, humping some very heavy gear all down the Lewis & Clark walking trail and parking on a sandbar beneath the NP railroad brdige.
Initially here was a lot of confusion among spectators as to why the middle span came down in one giant piece. I’ll tell you what the explosives expert of the demolition crew told me. Before they install their shape charges, they cut the bolts anchoring the bridge spans to the pilings. They can’t be cutting them with a grinder and sending sparks all over their explosives once they’ve been placed, after all. They had the east span rigged as well as the bottom of the middle span, but then the winds came up. They didn’t want to risk their guys being on the top of the middle span if the wind blew it over, so they opted to drop it and finish cutting it on the ground with torches. Notice that in the days before the demolition, they pushed rocks and dirt out below the bridge. That allows the crews to have land on which to salvage the steel, much easier than hunting around the water.
Notice the piece on the right hand side, the top of the pier that underwent repairs in an attempt to help the old bridge limp along. The repaired areas served their purposes, keeping the old bridge in operation until the crews were ready to take ‘er down.
How about those jaws? This machine reminds me of that James Bond villain. This guy’s got a pretty fun job, I bet. Chewin’ up steel. I can see how a feller could derive a great deal of satisfaction from it.
Nobody was more devastated than the local pigeon population; they were violently deprived of their perching, nesting, and pooping grounds! They hung around the concrete for a while until that, too was demolished.
I’d like to take this opportunity to remind you that the last vehicle to cross the Liberty Memorial Bridge before its official closing was a motorcycle: yours truly.
Coolest souvenirs of the day: these are pieces of shrapnel from the shaped charges that brought down the mighty Memorial Bridge. I got them from the demolition crew that was doing the aforementioned cleanup. They appear to be copper, and I guess they flew away from the detonation at an extremely high rate of speed. Thankfully these two managed to land in my hands. I’ll keep them forever as a souvenir of the old humming bridge.
