Broken into 30 sections by explosives, the Lowry Avenue Bridge dropped into the Mississippi River Sunday morning, severing a connection between north and northeast Minneapolis that had held since 1905. The old steel bridge, which had a they-don't-make-them-like-this-anymore character, had won the affection of longtime users for its open-slat driving deck, which hummed with the vibration of passing traffic and gave motorists a clear view of the river below. The bridge was closed in April 2008 when it was deemed structurally unsafe, four years after a supporting pier had shifted, said Paul Backer, Hennepin County project engineer. Its age and the repairs that would have been needed argued against spending the money to overhaul it. Still, residents of the area were sorry to see it go. "I really felt bad seeing it go down,'' said John Grant, a lifelong resident of northeast Minneapolis who lives just blocks from the bridge. "I think it was time, but I was saddened.'' Just after 9 am Sunday, Advanced Explosive Demolition Inc. used 320 charges to topple the bridge. The explosives sparked across its trusses with a loud boom and felled its pre-cut members into large, easy-to-find pieces that jutted out of the water and blocked the channel. Black smoke and dust rose. Cranes were waiting to lift the sections out of the water, under orders from the Coast Guard to clear the channel within 24 hours. The bridge deck, which was removed before the implosion, will be refashioned into a ...
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