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Photos, Videos: Old Kosciuszko Bridge Blown Straight To Hell
By
Jake Offenhartz
Published Oct 1, 2017
Modified Oct 1, 2017
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David "Dee" Delgado / Gothamist
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By
Jake Offenhartz
Published Oct 1, 2017
Modified Oct 1, 2017
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After 78 years of carrying traffic between Brooklyn and Queens, the old Kosciuszko Bridge has been blown to bits.
At 8 a.m. on Sunday morning, Governor Andrew Cuomo pressed a button that set off a series of 900 charges attached to key joints in the trestle — a process known, apparently, as "energetic felling." Before a crowd of some 100 infrastructure enthusiasts and New York leaders, the decaying bridge crumbled in a matter of minutes.
Here it is, via the governor's drone:
The implosion comes two months after the middle span of the bridge was dragged to New Jersey, where it was unceremoniously dismantled and recycled.
The eastbound span of the new bridge opened in April, as part of a $555 million project to replace the decaying connection. It was the first instance of a new bridge opening in the city in five decades.
The steel from Sunday's explosion included 20 trusses totaling 3,100 feet in length, and yielded an estimated 22 million pounds of soon-to-be recycled scrap metal.
Prior to blowing up the thing, Cuomo eulogized its decades of service as an overworked, notoriously clogged bridge.
“I remember my father would drive us from Queens to Brooklyn to go visit our grandparents,” the governor said. “The whole way through Queens he was nervous and driving like a crazy man because he wanted to get to the Kosciuszko before there was traffic — except it was impossible to get to the Kosciuszko Bridge before there was traffic."
“An energetic felling. What does that mean?" Cuomo added. "I don't know. I think it's a new politically correct term for implosion."
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Jake Offenhartz
Jake Offenhartz is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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