One of New York’s oldest and most iconic bridges took a trip into the Hudson on Tuesday.
The old Tappan Zee Bridge, which helped commuters cross from one side of New York to the other for over 60 years, was demolished in a controlled explosion Tuesday afternoon. The bridge had been damaged for quite some time and was replaced by a newer steel and cable bridge after commuters said they began hearing “pops” as drivers passed over it.
So in 2017, the Controlled Demolition of Maryland was commissioned to take the bridge down both safely and spectacularly. And that’s just what they did this week. (RELATED: Bear Repellent Explosion Sends Dozens Of Amazon Workers To The Hospital)
Take a look at some of the footage from the amazing modern phenomenon:
Watch: Tappan Zee bridge demolished in controlled explosion https://t.co/8VD3JRRGLx pic.twitter.com/gRIc7GcpGU
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) January 15, 2019
Boom! Watch the demolition of one of the last stretches of New York’s old Tappan Zee Bridge. pic.twitter.com/GyEM99Y5Bb
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) January 16, 2019
A closer look at the controlled demolition of the old Tappan Zee Bridge pic.twitter.com/xVgoRIHjjj
— Max Guliani (@maximusupinNYc) January 16, 2019
Amazing photo by @TaniaSavayan of the demolition of the #tappanzeebridge – The photographers and reporters from @lohud are out there following this story all day, see the live replay and look at their images. pic.twitter.com/GulX1WqcxH
— Carrie Yale (@carrieyale) January 15, 2019
Naturally, native New Yorkers and New Jerseyans took time out of their day to watch the bridge come down. One Tarrytown, New York resident even told The Post that she held a viewing party to watch the event, with about 50 people in total attending.
As for what’s going to come of the steel now that it’s in the river…it looks like it’s going to stay there.
“From what we’ve learned from the contractor, there isn’t an alternative that is as protective of human life,” Hudson River protectionist John Lipscomb told Lohud. “We see that they’ve gone to considerable lengths to try to figure out a way to minimize impacts to the river,” adding, “It’s the best time of the year for this to happen.”
Since the demolition took place in January, environmental experts say it will minimize the destruction to fish and other wildlife species native to the area.
But there’s still more to be done. The western part of the bridge will be taken apart at a later date this year — minus the explosives.