Clean up is underway and is expected to last into mid-day Tuesday following the planned demolition of the old Weatherford Street bridge between downtown Fort Worth and Interstate 35W.
Demolitions experts, contracted by the Texas Department of Transportation, imploded the bridge at approximately 10:22 pm Monday.
The implosion will make way for completion of the new Weatherford Street bridge, as well as new on-ramps to I-35W, said Val Lopez of TxDOT.
The demolition was necessary, Lopez said, because the new bridge sits less than six feet away from the old bridge. That close proximity makes using a crane too dangerous for the integrity of the new bridge, Lopez said.
Prior to the explosion, officials on the scene had said that an air horn would sound for one minute as a warning leading up to the actual demolition. By several accounts, that horn never sounded.
The blast could be heard as far away as Arlington, according to witnesses.
"I am laying in bed and it was unmistakable. There was an explosion. It was not like a transformer exploding or a car backfiring. It was literally, that's an explosion. I knew I'd wake up the next day and hear about it on the news," said Arlington resident Darrell Bevelhymer, who lives 20 miles away from the bridge.
Several streets around the area of the demolition will be closed through Tuesday morning as crews clear steel rebar and concrete chunks.
