The removal of a portion of the nearby old bridge will close Missouri 5 at the Hurricane Deck bridge in both directions Dec. 5 for about 15 minutes.
Crews will be blasting a 740-foot section of the old Hurricane Deck bridge at 11 a.m., and the area must be cleared about 10 minutes before the blast and remain closed for about five minutes after the explosion.
Water traffic will be prohibited in a 1,500-foot radius from the bridge for approximately one hour, starting at 10:30 a.m. and ending about 11:30 a.m. People in watercraft who want to travel under the bridge should plan their trip accordingly.
Once the area is secured, the span from the north end of the old bridge to the second pier in the water will be blasted and around 1 million pounds of steel from the truss will be dropped into the Lake of the Ozarks. Crews will then sweep the new Hurricane Deck bridge to clear any debris before reopening the highway to traffic.
The prime contractor on the new Hurricane Deck bridge project and the demolition of the old bridge is American Bridge Inc. of Pennsylvania. The blasting subcontractor is Duane Houkom Inc. of Texas.
American Bridge will take a couple of weeks to fish the truss span and any debris out of the lake. The metal retrieved from the lake will be placed on barges, processed and salvaged as scrap metal.
The Dec. 5 blast is the first of three blasts to demolish the old bridge. The second blast will be scheduled within two weeks after the first blast, and the third blast will take place approximately two weeks after the second blast, weather permitting.
The old bridge had been in service since 1936, but was closed on Sept. 9, when the new bridge was opened to traffic. Built on the east side of the original Hurricane Deck bridge, the new structure is wider than the old bridge, with two 12-foot driving lanes and 7-foot shoulders on each side.