With several bangs and plumes of smoke, 11,000 tons of the old Kosciuszko Bridge fell Sunday morning.
The bridge has linked Brooklyn and Queens for 78 years, and was demolished through energetic felling, a process by which a series of strategically-placed explosives immediately dismantle the bridge, causing it to safely fall straight to the ground. According to the DOT, this method is far easier than a slow disassembly, shortening what could have been seven months of work to mere seconds.
Wait for it. #KosciuszkoBridge pic.twitter.com/UNiOaTpe7D
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) October 1, 2017
The felling is another step in an $873 million project to replace the bridge with two cable-stayed ones scheduled for completion by 2019. The first span of the new bridge was opened in April, marking the end of the first phase of the construction plan, which was valued at $555 million.
“After years of stagnation and stunted ambition, we are building across the state bigger and better than before, and the energetic felling of the old bridge to make way for the new, on budget and ahead of schedule bridge, showcases our renewed commitment to building new, inspiring infrastructure for the future,” said Governor Cuomo. “The new cable-stayed bridge is a monument that brings people together, straddling two boroughs that have welcomed generations of immigrants from all over the globe.”
