The third and final span of the old Hurricane Deck Bridge at the Lake of the Ozarks is set to come down at 9 a.m. on Thursday.
Route 5 over the new Hurricane Deck Bridge near Sunrise Beach will be completely closed in both directions for approximately 15 minutes at the time of the blast, and water traffic will be prohibited in a 1,500-foot radius around the bridge for approximately one hour.
Once the area is secured, more than 47 pounds of explosives will be detonated to drop the 700-foot center steel truss span, weighing about 1.28 million pounds, into the lake. The contractor, American Bridge, will then spend several weeks retrieving the metal, which will be placed on barges, processed and salvaged as scrap metal.
Tomorrow's blast is the third and final of three blasts to demolish the old Hurricane Deck Bridge, built in 1936. The first and second blasts took place on Dec. 7, 2013 and Dec. 21, 2013, respectively.
The new Hurricane Deck Bridge opened to traffic on Sept. 10. It carries an average of 10,000 vehicles per day.