Demolition

Check out photos showing crews demolishing the eastbound I-10 bridge at Ruthrauff Road in Tucson to make way for a new interchange. 

By David Rookhuyzen / ADOT Communications

Travelers along State Route 89 south of Ash Fork will see the bridge over Meath Wash come down as crews begin the six-month process of a removing the old structure and replacing it with a cast-in-place, two-span bridge.

Watch as our drone flies over the demolition work on the old I-10 bridges at Jimmie Kerr Boulevard in Casa Grande and the new bridges that are part of a widening project there.

Last week, what remained of the old Hell Canyon Bridge on State Route 89 went out with a bang – literally.

Late last month, work to demolish the I-10 bridges over Perryville Road got underway in the west Valley.

After 56 years, it’s time for the old Gila River Bridge to retire … Located on US 70 about a mile west of the Bylas community on the San Carlos Apache reservation, the bridge, which was built in 1957, is now being demolished ...

We posted a clip on YouTube last week that shows crews demolishing the old Pantano Union Pacific Railroad Bridge. Because it’s a time-lapse video, you can watch all the work being completed in under a minute…

The new year officially is here, but before we dive into 2012 we’re going to take a quick look back. ADOT’s Public Information/Media Relations team came up with a great list of the state’s major transportation accomplishments from 2011 and we thought we’d share it here on the blog!

If you’ve been following along in the blog, you know that we’ve been chronicling ADOT’s reconstruction of the Mescal/J-Six bridge in southern Arizona since it was severely damaged when two semi trucks collided underneath it back in March. Completion of the fast-tracked bridge reconstruction is slated for later this month.

Last week we gave you an update on how the new Mescal/J-Six bridge is coming along... You might also remember that the night the damaged bridge was taken down, the old Marsh Station bridge was also demolished just a few miles away. It was a huge project that required completely shutting down I-10 for the night.

Some terrain is so rough and rocky that even heavy-duty machinery can’t break through. That was the case last Thursday when ADOT crews used more than 7,000 lbs. of explosives to remove roughly 8,000 cubic yards of material along SR 260, about 20 miles east of Payson.

Talk about a quick turnaround … it’s been just three months since a fiery crash destroyed the Mescal Road/J-Six Ranch Road bridge in Cochise County and already ADOT has approved a contract to rebuild and reopen the bridge this fall.

The bridges over Pinewood Boulevard in Munds Park have been carrying Interstate-17 traffic for the past 53 years and now it’s time for some well-deserved reconstruction! ADOT has already begun the project that will rebuild the bridges and ramps on I-17 at Munds Park , an area just south of Flagstaff . Work started last month and is scheduled to wrap up by fall 2012.

In just 10 hours this past weekend, two bridges in southern Arizona were demolished in order to make way for something new. All it took was some good planning, plenty of patience from motorists, a few enormous machines, and a ton of work by crews on the sites.