Champlain Bridge

I know this has nothing to do with the Bahamas, but yesterday, the Champlain Bridge between New York and Vermont was imploded. This bridge was built in 1929 and had very little, if any, maintenance. Each time we would travel across it from Crown Point (just north of our Ticonderoga summer home) to Vermont, we would wonder if it would hold up, or if we should wear our life vests. We saw what the bridge looked like from underneath it, while boating, and commented on how it could still be safely in service. This past summer they deemed it unsafe and closed it, but not before making traffic one lane only. This was actually worse, since the traffic would back up at the one way light, and instead of the weight being spread out, it was compacted. Tractor trailer trucks travel this way all the time, adding extra weight on the bridge. They are working on putting another ferry into service until the bridge can be rebuilt, but this affects so many people and businesses on both sides of Lake Champlain. Below is an Associated Press news article and a picture of the implosion.

"CROWN POINT, N.Y. (AP) — Controlled explosions have brought down the Lake Champlain Bridge between New York and Vermont.

Snow fell and a small group of onlookers watched as the 2,184-foot-long span between Crown Point, N.Y., and Addison, Vt., was dropped into the water and ice at the narrow south end of the lake Monday morning.

There was a sharp concussion followed by billowing smoke as steel and concrete fell.

The 80-year-old bridge was closed Oct. 16 when engineers deemed it wasn’t safe because of severe erosion to its concrete piers.

Idaho-based Advanced Explosives Demolition handled the detonation, using 800 pounds of explosives packed into more than 500 charges.

Debris will be removed by the spring, when construction is scheduled to begin on a new span expected to open in the summer of 2011."