[FONT=Verdana]Crews are preparing for the blasting demolition Thursday of a buried pier at the [/FONT][FONT=Verdana]Athens[/FONT][FONT=Verdana]River[/FONT][FONT=Verdana]Bridge[/FONT][FONT=Verdana] site, according to PennDOT officials, following successful completion of drilling efforts. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]
Demolition subcontractor Demtech, of [/FONT][FONT=Verdana]Dubois[/FONT][FONT=Verdana], [/FONT][FONT=Verdana]Wyoming[/FONT][FONT=Verdana], will conduct the blasting, tentatively scheduled for [/FONT][FONT=Verdana]12 p.m.[/FONT][FONT=Verdana] Thursday, according to PennDOT.

The old pier is buried in the river bed at the same site a pier for the new bridge is planned to be built and has played a part in delays in the project, originally scheduled for completion in November. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]
Demolition of the old pier is expected to allow workers to begin immediate installation of sheet piling down through the area on Friday, according to PennDOT project manager Steve Myers, the first step in erecting the new pier, the fourth and final one associated with the project.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]
Construction on the easternmost two piers and abutment has been completed, and Myers said PennDOT has directed bridge contractor Fahs Rolston to move crane and beam placement units to the site. Myers said current scheduling calls for beams to begin being placed during the first week of June. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]
PennDOT officials at the bridge site Tuesday said they expect the heavily contained and directed underwater blast to be "anti-climatic" for the viewing public and pose no danger to any nearby structures. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]
Myers said the blasting will be heard only as a muffled bang, and said the only effect likely visible from the surface would be a bulge in the rock causeway around the area of the blast.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]
"It may raise the rock up a foot or so," he said. "What you're doing is taking a solid rock of concrete and creating a void space that has to go up, the path of least resistance." [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]
He said the demolition permit called for the blast to be monitored by seismograph and video equipment, and said the nearest occupied structure was some 265 feet away from the area of the blast.[/FONT]