Last vestiges of the old NC 147 ped bridge start to disappear

The old NC 147 pedestrian bridge much discussed here of late came down far faster than it likely went up.

The removal project kicked off in the last week of May, with Durham Freeway drivers able to see sunlight as they drove under, as individual sections of the onetime concrete slab flooring were removed from a structure previously opaque on all sides but sky.

By late in the first week of June, the bridge was down, looking like a part that had fallen off of a very (very) large car and tumbled into the weeds on the side of the road, waiting for adopt-a-highway teams or work-release labor to pick it up. BCR reader John sent in this photo:

If you drive by the old bridge site now, you'll see footers remaining at either side of the arch -- as well as the two halves of a neighborhood once divided by the freeway, before a bridge briefly reconnected them -- until its own poorly-chosen, or perhaps simply outmoded design relegated it to a useless steel hulk.

The bridge crossing, closed since 1995, has been useless to all except perhaps the process of oxidation for the intervening decade and a half. Over the next year we'll see a new, more modern bridge erected; a gateway symbol, and a crossing that is more than perfunctory, more than merely functional.

Comments

[Phil]

"useless to all except perhaps the process of oxidation". Heh.

I would have enjoyed a time lapse video of the take down.

[I wonder if there are companies that specialize in doing time lapse video for construction/demolition companies. The product might be a camera/computer (or wireless connection) in securely mountable box that you can ship to any site, run off solar.

Come to think of it, the security-camera business that I co-own has a product that -could- do just that. But we'd have to change the camera that we use, and the way we manage data.

OK -- toss that one into the "nice ideas, done with it for now" bucket.]

[Doug Roach]

Drove by Saturday night on the way to RDU and even the arch is gone from the roadside already. I guess there was a boatload of recyclable pre-oxidized steel in that puppy.

[georg]

the work crew was cutting up the old bridge on thursday AM (mmm... oxyacetelene). i didn't drive by on thursday PM, but it was definitely chopped up and gone by friday AM

[Todd Twigg]

I am curious if the city is getting proceeds from sale of the scrap. Anyone have a copy of the contract handy?

I think it had a beautiful form and it appeared to be built like a battleship that could survive decades without maitenance. It is a pity that the bridge couldn't have been reused intact elsewhere in the city or county where "car safety/street visibility" isn't an issue... central Park, playgrounds, across the Eno...