Buchanan County motorists had to find another route Wednesday morning, as officials cleaned up from the first blast to demolish the Amelia Earhart Bridge.

That roads have since reopened.

US-59 Highway at Route 45 was shut down shortly before 9am, when the first demolition explosion was scheduled.

KDOT on Wednesday announced the schedule of the 2nd blast, Friday, October 11, at 2pm.

The demolition work will be completed by the project contractor, Omega Demolition Corporation (Elgin, IL) and two subcontractors, Advanced Explosives Demolition Inc. (Tensed, ID) and Engineered Explosive Service (Helotes, TX). All materials (concrete, steel, etc.) from the demolished bridge will be recycled by the contractor. Due to possible safety concerns with the bridge debris, there will be no pieces of the bridge available for the general public.

Three Bridge Blast Dates & Times (weather permitting)
***Note: The entire span of the bridge deck is being removed manually across the structure prior to the first bridge blast.

· FIRST BLAST: Wednesday, October 9 at 9:00 a.m. – This day’s blast will remove the high truss steel across the entire bridge structure spanning from the Kansas to Missouri side of the river.

· SECOND BLAST: Friday, October 11 at 2:00 p.m. (NEW TIME) – This day’s blast will remove bridge pier 9 located in the Missouri River channel (Kansas side).

· THIRD BLAST: Tuesday, October 29 at 9:00 a.m. – This day’s blast will remove bridge pier 10 located in the Missouri River channel (center river pier).

In the case of inclement weather, the blasts will be independently rescheduled for the next day as follows:
9:00 a.m. on Monday, October 14 (instead of Friday, October 11)
9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, October 30 (instead of Tuesday, October 29)