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Contractors this week will begin blasting the concrete piers that held up the bridge.
Motor vehicle traffic on the two U.S. 231 bridges will be stopped for a few minutes for the blasts.
Cecil Smith, area supervisor for Scott Bridge Co., said the company plans to dynamite at least three of the six concrete piers in the Tennessee River this week and hopes to demolish all six this week.
Company workers have been drilling holes in the piers to hold the dynamite charges, Smith said.
It will take two blasts to bring down each pier. The first blast will leave about 5 feet of the pier above the water line. The second shot in each pier will be underwater and will finish the demolition of each pier.
The remaining piers would be demolished next week if the work isn't finished this week.
When the piers disappear, there will be hardly any evidence that a bridge was built in 1931 to replace a ferry. The bridge was replaced by a $21.5 million span in June.
The state plans to build another bridge, possibly next year, where the Clay Bridge once stood. The state will demolish the 1965 southbound bridge once the other new bridge is completed.
Update:
The CC Clay Bridge will be no more Wednesday after demolition crews set off explosives to bring down the 75-year-old structure.
The bridge, which spans the Tennessee River, is no longer needed thanks to a new three-lane, 21.5 million dollar bridge.
Crews plan to detonate explosives at 11 am on Wednesday to bring it down.
demobud said:
I had some business in Huntsville yesterday so I detoured by the bridge, they are moving right along with the decking removal.
Do you take any pictures?
I had some business in Huntsville yesterday so I detoured by the bridge, they are moving right along with the decking removal.
[FONT=Verdana]Explosives to bring down span in about a month [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]The Clement Comer Clay Bridge on U.S. 231 has stood over the Tennessee River for 75 years, but its life span is about over with a few weeks left. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]Crews with Scott Bridge Co. are about to begin demolishing the bridge as part of the company's contract with the state to build the new bridge, which opened last week. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]Workers will remove the concrete deck of the Clay Bridge and a barge below it will catch the concrete debris. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]Strategically placed explosive charges will be used to drop the bridge into the river. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]It will be "at least" a month before Scott Bridge blows the Clay Bridge, Ervin Fennell, the project supervisor for Scott Bridge, said Monday. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]The Coast Guard will stop traffic on the Tennessee River once the explosive charges are in place, a Guard spokesman said. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]Scott[/FONT][FONT=Verdana] Bridge will also have to remove the structure that falls into the river because another bridge is planned for the same route as the Clay Bridge. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]The Alabama Department of Transportation has tentatively scheduled construction to begin next year on that bridge. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]The bridge was named for Clement Comer Clay, a Huntsville resident who served Alabama's governor and as a U.S. senator before the Civil War. He died in Huntsville in 1866. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]The Clay Bridge was among 15 memorial toll bridges built by the Alabama Bridge Co. between 1929 and 1931. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]The B.B. Comer Bridge in Scottsboro will be the only remaining memorial bridge once the Clay Bridge goes down. The Comer Bridge is also scheduled to be replaced. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]Other memorial bridges built during that period include the George S. Houston Bridge in Guntersville and the Keller Memorial Bridge in Decatur, both of which have been removed in the last 14 years. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]The DOT offered to give the Clay Bridge to agencies and groups that could meet preservation requirements, but couldn't find any qualified takers. [/FONT]
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