Today's big bang on the Broadway Bridge won't be much of one. More like a stupendous splash.
The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department said Monday that strategically placed explosives would demolish the steel arch on the south side of the bridge over the Arkansas River between Little Rock and North Little Rock. The detonation of the navigation span is scheduled for 10 a.m. when the agency director, Scott Bennett, will push a button set up on the nearby Main Street Bridge.
A 1,500-foot clear zone will be established. People who want to see the demolition are encouraged to watch from the banks of the river or from the Junction Bridge, which is open only to pedestrians.
The Main Street Bridge will be open to traffic, but the sidewalk on the west side will be closed. Access will be limited to credentialed media and local officials. Arkansas Highway Police will control access to the sidewalk and ensure traffic moves across the bridge.
[BROADWAY BRIDGE: Find traffic map, cameras, previous coverage, photos here]
Don't expect transportation Armageddon.
"There will be several pops and loud clanging sounds," Highway Department spokesman Danny Straessle said, similar to knocking over a bunch of pots and pants. "Don't think in terms of a movie scene in which something blows up."
Three short blasts from an air horn will sound five minutes before detonation. One long blast will sound two minutes before detonation. One long blast afterward will sound the all-clear.
Massman Construction Co. of Kansas City, Mo., spent the weekend weakening the structure, cutting the bridge in some areas to help it fall the way it should, Straessle said. Cutting charges don't blow up but instead produce heat to cut through the bridge.
Afterward, Massman has 24 hours to clear the debris from the navigation channel. Straessle said the 24 hours was a requirement of the Coast Guard and the Army Corp of Engineers so that barge traffic could continue. He said a large crane would likely be used to lift the debris onto barges, after which it would be cut into manageable pieces and trucked out.
How much debris? Straessle said an estimated 2 million pounds of structural steel.
More implosions will come, and perhaps soon.
"We hope to address the other arches later in the week but don't have confirmed times," Straessle said of the two concrete arches near the north shore. "They will also be imploded and will be wrapped in fabric to minimize debris dispersal."
Today's detonation is the first of four, the others being the concrete arches and the foundations that support the arches.
No streets will be blocked, Straessle said. On south side, nearest the navigation span, the bridge's intersection with Markham Street is far enough away.
Many people will want to gather at Riverfront Park in Little Rock, he said, part of which will be cordoned off for the clear zone.
Massman continues work on the new arches, which are positioned on barges on the north shore. Straessle said one of the arches is complete and that the other will hopefully be completed by the end of October. The contractor plans to float those arches into place onto the newly built supports in November.
"November is the wettest month in Arkansas, and we typically see higher river flows at that time as well. It's somewhat of a roll of the dice. The other roll of the dice is constructing the rest of the bridge in the dead of winter. Every coat of ice and winter weather event will slow things down."
Plenty of rubble from the ongoing dismantling of the bridge is piled up on part of the parking lot at Dickey-Stephens ballpark in North Little Rock.
"Folks are going in and parking, taking pictures and picking up pieces," Straessle said. "I picked up a couple of pieces myself," he added.
Massman has a vested interest in opening the new bridge to traffic in its allotted 180 days, the start of which was Oct. 1, shortly after the bridge was closed to traffic. For every day past 180, Massman is docked $80,000, with no limit on the number of days that amount can be assessed. For every day less than 180, the company gets an $80,000 bonus, up to 50 days. Massman was awarded a contract of $98.4 million to replace the bridge.
The Broadway Bridge is part of U.S. 70 and was opened in 1923. Its implosion will be the second recent demolition of a bridge in Arkansas. On Oct. 2, the old U.S. 67 bridge over the Black River at Pocahontas was taken down. That bridge was built in 1929. The estimated completion date of the new bridge, a $10 million project, is summer 2018.
Neither is the Broadway Bridge implosion the first in downtown Little Rock. The most famous was the 1980 implosion of the Marion and Grady Manning hotels at Markham and Main streets.
Strong winds delayed the implosion on Sunday, Feb. 17, until about 10:40 a.m., the Arkansas Democrat reported the next day.
Susan Borden, 13, and Michael Pack, 10, both of North Little Rock, pushed the ceremonial plunger, after which both hotels took five seconds to fall to the ground in a giant cloud of dust.
A Section on 10/11/2016