Tappan Zee Bridge Span Comes Down With Controlled Explosion

TARRYTOWN, NY — It was later than everyone had anticipated, but the eastern anchor span of the old Tappan Zee Bridge was brought down by a controlled explosion Tuesday, Jan. 15 at 10:52 a.m. Traffic stops on I-87/I-287 had been put into place beginning at 10 a.m. and the new Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge was reopened to traffic shortly after 11 a.m.

Tappan Zee Constructors, who built the new bridge and is in charge of demolishing the old one, said the public could expect to hear a brief loud noise comparable to a single set of fireworks. Pet owners were advised to keep their animals indoors or leashed during the operation.

A commenter on the White Plains Patch Facebook page said she heard the explosion about four minutes after seeing it on television.

Around 11:10 a.m. Tuesday, New Castle police sent a text saying they had been receiving calls about a loud explosion in town and wanted people to know it was probably the Tappan Zee Bridge.

The span, which was near the Westchester side of the bridge, was originally put into service in the 1950s and was determined to be unstable the same day both spans of the new Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge were opened to traffic.

After the initial explosion, which took out the legs of the span, the remaining span fell to the water.

But it's not really the end of the old bridge, yet. The westernmost anchor span is still there. Plus, following the demolition, portions of the old east anchor span will be visible above the water line. These portions will remain visible as the span is removed from the Hudson River.

According to the Tappan Zee Constructors, the controlled demolition utilized charges to deliberately fail vertical members of the span, allowing the demolition team to safely lower the span eastward, away from the main navigation channel, using specialty marine salvage equipment. Marine salvage experts will now remove the material from the river during the next few weeks. The steel will be recovered with the assistance of chains, that had been laid on the riverbed before the demolition.

The Tappan Zee Bridge opened to traffic in 1955 and, until its retirement on Oct. 6, 2017, was a vital artery for residents, commuters, travelers and commercial traffic. Bridge traffic grew to about 140,000 vehicles per day in 2016, far more than the Tappan Zee was designed to support.

After a ceremony Sept. 7, 2018, attended by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, proclaiming the westbound span of the new bridge opened, engineers said they were concerned that remains of the old bridge could collapse onto the new structure.

Traffic in the area Tuesday was stopped beginning around 10 a.m., with entrance ramps on the Tarrytown and Nyack sides, as well as traffic in both directions on I-87/I-287 between exits 9 and 11.

Media reports said that the backups on either side of the river weren't as onerous as had been expected and traffic was flowing again around 11 a.m.

Metro-North Railroad delayed one train in each direction for 10 minutes on the Hudson Line in the vicinity of the bridge during the operation.

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Photo credit: Screenshot from NYS Thruway Authority webcam..