Video: 100 lbs. of Dynamite Used to Blow Up Tenn. Bridge | Dump Truck Company

With 100 pounds of dynamite, a two-lane bridge was destroyed in Clarksville, Tennessee, to make way for a four-lane span.

Watch the video by TDOT below:

Along with explosives, “the steel was rigged to separate into seven different sections upon impact,” the Tennessee Department of Transportation says. “Each piece was marked with a buoy, so it could be easily found in the water. Cranes lifted the pieces out of the water and onto the shore to be collected and removed. Divers were also on site to help with the cleanup work.”

The demolition of the 400-foot-long McClure Bridge comes after completion of the first two-lane span of the new bridge. It is part of a 3-mile widening of SR 149/SR 13 that began in March 2018 and is expected to be completed in early 2022. The $65 million project is part of an overall effort to build a State Route 375 bypass around Clarksville.

The new bridge features drilled shafts for its foundation instead of pile-driven shafts. That’s because the Karst terrain is made up of jagged, uneven rocks and pile driving would cause the shafts to glance off the rocks. The drilled shafts are 10 feet in diameter and descend to depths of 100 feet.

For more on the shaft drilling, watch the TDOT video below: