Third try to implode old bridge on I-71 fails

A third WARREN COUNTY — attempt to demolish the remnants of the state’s tallest bridge failed Sunday, so crews will use cranes to dismantle the former Jeremiah Morrow Bridge in Warren County.

Ohio Department of Transportation Press Secretary Matt Bruning said they are finished trying to blow the old bridge down.

“After a demolition blast on Sunday morning, crews will now begin manually dismantling the remaining section of the old Jeremiah Morrow Bridge to remove it,” Bruning said. “The next phase of work will begin immediately and is not expected to impact traffic or require additional closures to I-71.”

Bruning said it appears the third attempt to down the bridge detached the north end, but the south end was “bound up on itself.”

Last Sunday, four spans were to be imploded.

Two of the spans were successfully imploded, and a third span was demolished when explosive charges were set and detonated a second time.

On the final span, the steel structure heading north and east away from the Little Miami River, only half of the charges detonated on the first try.

The new $88.1 million Jeremiah Morrow structures opened last November after six years of construction. They are among Ohio’s longest bridges, spanning nearly 2,300 feet, are the state’s tallest at 239 feet above the Little Miami River and will carry more than 40,000 vehicles daily on Interstate 71.

The new bridges will carry two lanes in each direction across the Little Miami Valley, but have room to add a third lane in the future. Construction on the project first began in the fall of 2010.

The twin spans are named after Jeremiah Morrow who, between 1803 and 1842, served as a state senator, Ohio’s first U.S. representative, a U.S. senator and Ohio governor.