People who like explosions will love The Dick Henderson
Bridge over the Kanawha River between Nitro and St. Albans next month.
The West Virginia Division of Highways says the slow
dismantling of the bridge is not going as well as planned, so the parts of the
old steel bridge still standing will be removed by blasting.
Carrie Bly, a spokesperson for the DoH, said the general
contractor for the demolition is required to give two weeks' notice of blasting
work, and the DoH received that notice on Feb. 14.
The tower and remaining steel on the St. Albans side of the
river are scheduled to come down at 10 a.m. March 1. The Nitro side is scheduled
for removal at 10 a.m. March 8.
The bridge was closed to traffic in January so a replacement
could be built on its existing piers, which are being strengthened. The
replacement will be similar to the bridge over the Kanawha near the Putnam
County town of Buffalo.
The Dick Henderson Memorial Bridge was built in 1934 by
McClintic Marshall Corp. of Bethlehem, Pa. It was a three-span cantilever
Warren through truss with an overall length of 1,367 feet.
The
demolition will be the first of a large bridge on the Kanawha since the Shadle
Bridge connecting Point Pleasant and Henderson was brought down on Dec. 16,
1998.
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