Bismarck Tribune - Bismarck News - Bridge rubble should be gone by Friday

Bridge rubble should be gone by Friday

MIKE McCLEARY/Tribune Members of the demolition crew in charge of retrieving the mangled steel of the old Liberty Memorial Bridge attach a cable from a large crane to a section sitting in the Missouri River near the west bank on Wednesday. The crane is mounted on a barge.

Oct 09, 2008 - 04:05:59 CDT

By BRIAN GEHRING
Bismarck Tribune

Cleanup of the debris in the Missouri River continued Wednesday after the first span of the old Memorial Bridge went crashing into the water Monday.

Mike Kopp of the North Dakota Department of Transportation said the main, navigable channel was cleared of steel and other debris within the 24-hour period set by the U.S. Coast Guard.

He said there has been no firm date set as to when the remaining two spans of the old bridge will come down, but it likely will be done sometime before the end of the month.

Kopp also was involved with DOT at the 4 Bears Bridge near New Town when it was demolished.

In that project, he said a formula was used to determine a dollar value for fish that might have been killed during the demolition.

In the case of the Memorial Bridge, Kopp said the North Dakota Game and Fish Department swept through the river with an electro-shock boat, chasing any fish out of the immediate area so there were no losses.

Meanwhile, crews continued fishing twisted steel and other debris out of the river Wednesday.

Jeff Dahn of Total Construction, the Minnesota contractor on the project, said as of about mid-day Wednesday, he estimated about 75 percent of the old bridge had been pulled out of the icy water.

"I think by tomorrow, we should have it out," Dahn said. "Or Friday morning at the latest."

Dahn said the steel is being hauled to Porter Brothers in Bismarck for salvage, but he did not know what the steel was bringing for a price.

With the turmoil in the stock market and Wall Street, he said they haven't been able to get a quote on what the salvage value is for the steel.

"They're not quoting us yet, so I won't know what we're getting until we have all the tickets."

Dahn said he estimated in all, there will be about 2,000 tons of steel salvaged from the old bridge.

(Reach reporter Brian Gehring 250-8254 or brian.gehring@bismarcktribune.com.)

News > Local

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Comments

why wrote on Oct 9, 2008 11:26 PM:

" i think "for the birds" is right a couple blasts of cherry bombs or a small charge put on the under side of the bridge for noise would scare the birds away.I wonder how the new bridge is holding up with the shockwaves of the blast and the old bridge falling into the water. I went across the new bridge the other day it reminded me of driving down the interstate "no personality". Just another concrete "cookie cutter" bridge in my opinion. Next time someone asks how old Bismarck is I will say 80 years old because anything over 80 years old is demolished . How long until the capital building will be replaced because it becomes outdated ? If my memory serves me it was built in 1929-1930 after the fire do its 70+ years old so we better decide on the new Capital building soon. "

Resident wrote on Oct 9, 2008 9:03 PM:

" Wow...Porter Brothers has been gone for quite awhile!?! "

wow wrote on Oct 9, 2008 4:53 PM:

" okay seriously no offense but what is with the protect the birds and pigeons. Non of these birds were endangered and pigeons are for surely not endangered, if they were there would have been other precautions taken. All these birds on the bridges do are drop there fecal matter on you and your boat when you go under them anyways. And trust me, for those birds that survived the blast they will certainly find new places to live. There is a brand new bridge for them to make messy with all their nests! "

Icy waters wrote on Oct 9, 2008 4:25 PM:

" It has not been to 32 degrees around here this fall so how could there be ice in the water? "

For the birds wrote on Oct 9, 2008 3:40 PM:

" Big firecrackers like cherry bombs would shoo the pigeons away. Just drive a vehicle across the new memorial bridge and detonate four or fire cherry bombs near the two remaining spans. Once the vehicle is safely on the other side and out of harms way, let go with the big stuff. "

fosizzle wrote on Oct 9, 2008 1:34 PM:

" If posters can think of a safe economical way to shoo the birds away, and make sure they don't come back, I'm sure the contractors would be grateful. Otherwise I hear they are looking for volunteers to stand on the old bridge with brooms to scare them away. (that was a joke) "

Arlo wrote on Oct 9, 2008 11:50 AM:

" Many pigeons died. I spoke to people on th seen that saw large bunches of dead ones floating down the river.

They scared the fish away,god spare the carp, but heck with the birds guess. "

krten wrote on Oct 9, 2008 9:07 AM:

" "chasing any fish out of the immediate area so there were no losses"

But what about the pigeons, all the birds? Didn't anyone think of the defenseless birds? How many were killed? How many were permanently deafened? How many are now homeless? How can they ever rebuild their homes before winter sets in? Where will they get financing to rebuild? The pigeons! Think of the birds! ;-) "

Reader wrote on Oct 9, 2008 7:43 AM:

" It's not Porter Bros. anymore, it's Gerdau Ameristeel. Even if it's a quote, you still should respect the company enough to put their name in parenthesis. "

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