Navigation stalled by Donora-Webster Bridge demolition
A salvage company removes one of the last sections of the imploded Donora-Webster Bridge from the Monongahela River navigation channel Thursday, stacking it along with others on the Westmoreland County bank.
Work begins Wednesday on cutting up the main span of the imploded Donora-Webster Bridge.
A young couple watch the progress Wednesday evening in Westmoreland County on the removal of the imploded Donora-Webster Bridge.
The contractor removes one of the last sections of the imploded Donora-Webster Bridge to reopen navigation Thursday on the Monongahela River.
WEBSTER – The contractor overseeing demolition of the historic Donora-Webster Bridge did not meet the federally imposed 24-hour deadline Thursday to clear the Monongahela River of scrap steel to reopen navigation.
Beech Construction of Carnegie had the river reopened to barge and pleasure boat traffic by early afternoon Thursday, several hours past the 10 a.m. deadline, said Jay Ofsanik, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.
“We are still monitoring,” said U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Devin P. Adams.
Beech imploded the 107-year-old span at 9:59 a.m. Wednesday using 72 pounds of military-style explosives. No one was injured, but the blasts broke two windows on buildings in Webster, said Ofsanik.
Ofsanik said the company performed a scan of the river to make sure “there wasn’t anything in there,” and boats were allowed to navigate through the area by 12:30 p.m. Thursday.
The salvage company was still removing the final pieces of the imploded span from the water late Thursday morning.
The company stacked the cut-up sections of the bridge’s main span along the riverbank in Webster and likely will cause other interruptions to navigation as that steel is transferred onto barges, the Coast Guard said.
The contractor was met with thick overnight fog in that section of the Mon River.
The lockmaster at Locks and Dam No. 4 said there were tows heading to the Donora area from both directions about 11:30 a.m. Thursday, and the boat pilots were instructed to proceed with extreme caution by 2 p.m. The pilots also were instructed to not pass other tows in the Donora area because the navigational channel is narrow there.
Adams said it was too early to say whether the contractor will be fined for missing the deadline to reopen the river to traffic.
The state Department of Transportation awarded Beech a $2.6 million contract to demolish the bridge after determining it was too deteriorated and unsafe for traffic in 2009.
Beech did not have a comment on the delay in Donora, said a man who answered the telephone at its headquarters.
“We’re going through everybody’s notes and making sure what was going on there,” he said.