Taking down the Broadway Bridge hit another snag Friday, this time thanks to Mother Nature.
Lightning forced crews to postpone Friday's planned demolition of the bridge's remaining concrete arches in the Arkansas River. That demolition was reschedule for 8 a.m. today.
The delay capped a week in which explosive charges initially failed to collapse the steel arch, requiring crews to use towboats, a crane and a barge to pull it down. The bridge that connects Little Rock and North Little Rock finally fell after five attempts.
After the steel arch toppled into the river -- 5 hours behind schedule -- crews were unable to remove the pieces from the river navigation channel within the 24-hour window that the U.S. Coast Guard had allowed. Instead, that work took an extra day, and the channel finally reopened to barge traffic Thursday evening.
Lightning from thunderstorms early Friday prevented the crews from attaching the blasting caps to the explosive charges on the concrete arches, said Danny Straessle, a spokesman for the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department.
The lightning "presented a danger" to construction workers working to wire the connections, he said Friday morning. "They will spend the day [Friday] working on that."
Much of the north bank of the river will be closed to spectators during today's explosion because of the arches' proximity to that shoreline. The blast could produce debris that might strike that area, Straessle said, even though the explosives have been wrapped in fabric to reduce that likelihood.
Areas off-limits to spectators will include the parking lot at Dickey-Stephens Ballpark, Riverfront Drive and the River Trail, which are within the 1,500-foot safety zone established for the blasting, he said. Spectators will be permitted on the river's south bank and on the Junction Bridge to view the detonation as they were for Tuesday's initial detonation.
The contractor, Massman Construction Co. of Kansas City, Mo., is operating within a six-month period that began Sept. 28 to dismantle the old bridge and open the new one. For every day that the project exceeds that six-month window, the company will be docked $80,000.
Massman was awarded the $98.4 million contract for the project in 2014 and has spent much of its time thus far doing preliminary work, including partially constructing the piers for the new bridge and its two twin arches, which are expected to be floated into place next month.
This week's delays likely haven't jeopardized the ability of Massman to complete the project within its 180 days, Straessle said.
"We think during the course of the project they will be able to make up that time," he said. "What folks need to keep an eye on is the end of the 180-day sprint. We don't consider them behind unless they are not going to be able to meet the 180-day period."
Despite the week's setbacks, it is evident that Massman crews are working hard, Straessle said.
"I think everyone has been impressed with the game Massman has brought," he said. "The around-the-clock work, the progress for construction. You see rapid progress on this project."
Another round of detonations is scheduled for next week. Those blasts will target the footings of the concrete piers that are mostly underwater, Straessle said.
Massman crews also will complete the new piers and put in place the horizontal pier caps before the new arches are floated into place, he said.
"It's pretty much their game ball right now, and they're going at it," Straessle said.
A Section on 10/15/2016