The final underwater blast at the old Jamestown Bridge site is set for Wednesday, the state Department of Transportation said.

The DOT said the controlled explosive demolition will remove two underwater piers on the Jamestown side of the bridge. The blast is set for about 9 a.m., barring any delays caused by the weather or safety concerns.

The department said the final detonation will be similar to 10 previous underwater blasts that have been happening since August. Traffic will be cleared from the Jamestown-Verrazzano Bridge during the demolition.

Wednesday's underwater demolition is among the final elements of the $19.5 million project to remove the old Jamestown Bridge. The demolition began with the implosion of the bridge's distinctive center span in April.

Underwater debris clean up will take place through February. In the spring, landscaping and removal of the construction staging areas will take place, the DOT said.

The next underwater demolition for the old Jamestown Bridge is scheduled for Thursday (Today) at noon, according to the state Department of Transportation. The detonations will be comprised of two pier segments on the North Kingstown side of the bridge.

The detonations will be similar to four underwater demolition events in August and the latest on Sept. 14. Traffic impacts on the Jamestown-Verrazzano Bridge will be kept to a minimum during the demolition.

Just before the detonations, State Police will execute a "rolling block" by moving slowly in all lanes of travel to momentarily clear traffic from the bridge. This approach should avoid the need to conduct a 30-minute closure of the bridge, as was originally planned for the underwater detonations. Between four and five more underwater detonations are planned for the next several weeks.

The center span is gone and so are the deck trusses and girder spans that once led to it.

Next up for the old Jamestown Bridge demolition project is the removal of the concrete piers.

The first of up to 13 detonations to remove the piers is scheduled for next Tuesday at 10 a.m., the Department of Transportation announced yesterday.

The detonations will remove what's left of more than two dozen piers that once supported the two-lane bridge, taking them down to mud level to allow safe passage of boats and ships, said Frank Corrao, a DOT engineer.

Tuesday's detonation will focus on two piers on the North Kingstown side of the bridge. Other detonations will follow about every other week, Corrao said.

Unlike the major detonations that removed the old bridge's center span and deck trusses in April and May, the upcoming small-scale pier detonations will not require three- to four-hour closures of the adjacent
Jamestown-Verrazzano Bridge.

Instead, the state police plan to establish a "rolling block" that will slow traffic on each side of the new bridge to a crawl to clear the new bridge for the detonation. Afterward, there will be a quick inspection of the new bridge and then traffic will be allowed to pass. The delay is expected to last no more than 30 minutes, Corrao said.

The detonations will use 528 pounds of explosives on the two piers, which have been dismantled to just above the high-water line. The explosions, underwater, will create some splashes and ripples, but people lined up to drive across the new bridge, "won't see it, they won't even know it happened," Corrao said.

The Coast Guard will enforce a 3,000-foot safety zone on each side of the bridge. The demolition will not be canceled for poor weather unless there is a severe thunderstorm that could affect the electrical system used to control the detonations, Corrao said.

Once the smaller detonations are finished this fall, the only remaining portion of the old bridge will be a 2,000-foot stretch running from the North Kingstown shore. The DOT and the Department of Environmental Management are making plans to take that section down in a separate project.

Nice looking shot. Although there was a pretty good size section that looks like it got caught up and will have to be taken down manually. Other than that it looked great.

The second phase of demolition on the old Jamestown Bridge has now been delayed until at least May 17.

Officials will keep an eye on the weather and decide over the weekend if a longer delay will be needed. The crews need a few consecutive days of dry weather to prepare for the project

Congrats to Cashman and Demtech, looks like a nice shot. I heard it will take about 6 weeks to clean up the debris in the water.