WREX.com – Rockford’s News LeaderRockford's Morgan Street Bridge is no more

Rockford's Morgan Street Bridge is no more

After much anticipation and a few delays, Rockford's Morgan Street Bridge is no more.

Once the dust settled all that was left was bent steel and crumbled concrete. This after more than five decades of service to the Rockford community.

Three days of preparation and manpower, 65 pounds of explosives and the single press of a button sends the Morgan Street Bridge crumbling into the Rock River.

Up until hours ago the bridge spanned the Rock since 1960. Explosives sped up what time was already doing.

"The past several years we were not able to go across it," says Director of Public Works, Tim Hanson. "It was restricted on weight, you could not take any heavy vehicles across it at this time and it lived out its life. It was over fifty years old."

Crews worked long hours leading up to the demolition. They were still making preparations up to the last few minutes before the bridge came crashing down.

"What was involved was the drilling of about 125 holes into the existing concrete arches that you saw out there," adds Matthew Vitner, City Engineer. "About a half a pound of explosives go into each hole and then they run their detonation cords on these micro-second delays."

One business owner in the area invited friends to join him on the roof of his company to catch a bird's eye view of the big bang.

To him, the Morgan Street Bridge isn't just another way across the river; its a direct route to his clients. The closure makes traveling an inconvenience.

"That parts made it difficult because a lot of our work is towards the east side of town, the Belvidere area," says Chris Gallagher, owner of StampWorks By Design. "Instead of cutting across the Morgan Street Bridge which was a quick through way to East State Street and some of that stuff, we have to take an alternate route which is around Rockford now so that's been tough."

Hanson says the total cost of replacing the bridge is in the ballpark of 40 million dollars.