Quantcast

Out with a bang: Officials finally blast away old Kosciuszko Bridge

Out with a bang: Officials finally blast away old Kosciuszko Bridge
Photo by Michael Shain

It was the boom heard ‘round the borough.

A huge explosion decimated the remaining approaches of the old Kosciuszko Bridge on Oct. 1, sending a loud rumble throughout neighborhoods surrounding the crossing.

The 8 am burst knocked 22-million tons of steel to the ground, creating clouds of dust that billowed in the air after the structure’s demise.

Onlookers watched from the banks of the Newtown Creek and on boats, where Gov. Cuomo observed the destruction from a vessel carrying a group of reporters and pols sporting credentials for the “energetic felling,” a term the state’s Department of Transportation coined to replace “explosion.”

Officials originally planned the detonation for this summer, but the agency pushed it back several times for unknown reasons. The blast appeared as flashes of light seconds before chunks of the crossing crashed to the ground like fallen dominoes.

Now that the last of the 78-year-old span is gone, crews can get to work building the second of its two like-named replacement bridges, which is expected to open in 2020.

Reach reporter Lauren Gill at lgill@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260–2511. Follow her on Twitter @laurenk_gill