Channel reopens after last piece of Broadway Bridge arch removed from river

October 13, 2016 at 11:58 a.m. | Updated October 13, 2016 at 5:53 p.m.

by Brandon Riddle

Another crew works to pull another piece of the arch to dry land as efforts went past a 24-hour permit that closed part of the river to barge traffic. The arch, which withstood explosive charges Tuesday that were supposed to drop it into the river in an upright position, had to be pulled down. It settled on its side, making the retrieval work more difficult and dangerous.
Another crew works to pull another piece of the arch to dry land as efforts went past a 24-hour permit that closed part of the river to barge traffic. The arch, which withstood explosive charges Tuesday that were supposed to drop it into the river in an upright position, had to be pulled down. It settled on its side, making the retrieval work more difficult and dangerous.

5:50 P.M. UPDATE:

Arkansas' Highway and Transportation Department says commercial traffic has resumed on a portion of the Arkansas River a few hours after the last piece of the Broadway Bridge's steel arch was removed.

Danny Straessle, spokesman for the Highway Department, said the channel reopened around 5:15 p.m. after a thorough inspection of the waterway by the contractor and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The last piece was extracted around 2:30 p.m.

[BROADWAY BRIDGE: More videos of explosion and bridge falling + traffic map, cameras, previous coverage, photos here]

On Friday afternoon, three concrete arches on the river's north side will be detonated as part of the second controlled collapse of the span.

In news release, the agency said the arches have been wrapped in fabric to minimize debris dispersal, and, like the first detonation, a 1,500-foot clearance zone will be in place.

Spectators are asked to watch the collapse from the Little Rock side of the river, Straessle said, adding that much of the North Little Rock side near the arches will be closed.

Those riverfront closures include the parking lot of Dickey-Stephens Park and a portion of Riverfront Drive.

Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

3 P.M. UPDATE:

The last piece of the Broadway Bridge's steel arch has been removed from the Arkansas River, according to the state Highway and Transportation Department.

In a tweet around 2:30 p.m., the agency said that the channel will not reopen until the U.S. Corps of Engineers inspects the waterway.

Earlier in the day, a spokesman for the U.S. Coast Guard's Memphis office told Arkansas Online that the channel was expected to reopen by mid-afternoon.

Crews are also at work preparing for the second controlled collapse of the Broadway Bridge, this time focused on three concrete arches on the river's north side. That detonation is set for 1 p.m. Friday, the Highway Department said on social media.

EARLIER STORY:

A portion of the Arkansas River channel remains closed as crews continue to clear the waterway of Broadway Bridge debris, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Brian Hampton, operations unit controller with the agency’s Memphis office, said work on removing remaining portions of the the bridge’s steel arch was expected to be finished between noon and mid-afternoon Thursday.

That arch, in seven pieces, came down with help of cables tied to tugboats hours after explosives failed to send it into the river Tuesday. Its landing position in the water — sideways instead of the planned upright position — has complicated the extraction process, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette previously reported.

As of Wednesday, two of seven pieces of the steel structure had been removed from the Arkansas River.

Danny Straessle, spokesman for the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, said his agency had not received word on an exact time frame for when the channel would reopen to commercial traffic.

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