90 80
OHIO STATE EDITION
6
A Supplement to:
422
6 80 24
6
4
71
76
199 30 30 75
68
30 77
71 23 22 68
4
70 70
70
22 71
75
77
27
March 3 2012
22 74
50
50 25
Vol. XVII • No. 5
35
52
“The Nation’s Best Read Construction Newspaper… Founded in 1957.” Your Ohio Connection: Ed Bryden, Strongsville, OH • 1-800-810-7640
Blast of the Past
(Ohio Department of Transportation photo)
Sparks fly as the implosion of the Fort Steuben Bridge commenced in the early morning hours of Feb. 21. In a matter of mere seconds, the span was demolished.
By Tracy Carbasho CEG CORRESPONDENT
A bridge that served Ohio and West Virginia for more than eight decades was demolished in February after being closed to traffic for three years. The Ohio Department of Transportation announced in early 2009 that the Fort Steuben Bridge would be demolished as a result of what engineers called “significantly deteriorating changes in the floor condition.” The discovery was made by a team of inspectors from ODOT’s New Philadelphia and Columbus offices after a slight dip in the
floor was noticed during an earlier routine maintenance procedure. The 1,584-ft. (483 m) bridge, which was constructed in 1928, traverses the Ohio River between Steubenville, Ohio, and Weirton, W.Va. After being deemed structurally deficient and functionally obsolete, the span was scheduled to be removed in fall 2009. However, coordinating such an extensive $2.3 million project between the various governmental and regulatory agencies in both states took longer than expected and delayed the work. The demolition project, being done by Joseph B. Fay Co. of
Russellton, Pa., eventually got under way in January of this year with the removal of the bridge deck and every other part that was accessible by land. Becky Giauque, public information officer of District 11 of ODOT, said the detonation was done by Controlled Demolition Inc., a specialty explosives subcontractor from Phoenix, Md. “CDI’s segmentation of the steel trusses, suspension cables, and main towers allowed for a more efficient, time-saving and safer demolition operation compared to conventional methods,” she said. “The basic premise of explosives operation is to isolate the
key structural members of the bridge and cut them with linear-shaped charges to safely segment and drop the bridge to the surface below. “The explosive charges placed on the CDI-selected chords, diagonals, suspension cables and towers totaled 136 cut points and were detonated commencing on the Ohio end of the bridge and progressing to the West Virginia end,” added Giauque. “Sequential detonation was achieved with the use of internal-delay, non-electric blasting caps. The use of delayed blasting caps will reduce any vibration or air blast genersee DEMOLITION page 4