Thursday, July 08, 2010

Blowing up things

MODOT is demolishing old bridges over I-70 to make way for the new Mississippi River Bridge.

It's quick work, starting around 7:00 pm on a Friday, and being all wrapped up by 5:00 am Monday morning.

Any idea how much these drop and haul off operations typically cost? What happens to all the rubble and old steel?

2 comments:

samizdat said...

Don't know about the cost, but I bet the steel, certainly, and the concrete, possibly, will be recycled. Matter of fact, it has most likely already been purchased. In spite of what many say, recycling is a huge business, billions of dollars worth a year huge. And since recycled metals, especially aluminum, require much less energy to reprocess into other products, it saves not only M-O-N-E-Y, but E-N-E-R-G-Y. Recycling is not only a viable business venture, but good for the environment. Well, better, anyway.

Darknight said...

Yeah, everything is recycled.

The steel is purchased by a local scrap company like Cash's and is seperated by a track hoe with a big electromagnet.

The concrete and asphalt is recycled into new asphalt.