A highway bridge in northwest Germany was detonated on Sunday morning (February 6, 2022) in an “exceptionally exciting” operation.
“This one was exceptionally exciting because the bridge is located in a bend and the upper parts consist of several parts. I’m just excited it worked out,” said Ulrich Seibel after the demolition.
The controlled detonation had to be monitored closely to prevent damage to the new bridge which was built alongside the old one and has recently been inaugurated.
For safety reasons, the crowd of curious bystanders had to maintain a distance of 300 metres (984 feet), the area was temporarily sealed off and no traffic was allowed to cross the new bridge.
At exactly 10:58 local time (0958GMT), a small explosion went off to scare off birds, a countdown was initiated and two minutes later 120 kilograms (265 pounds) of explosives were ignited.
The bridge, measuring 485.5 metres (1593 feet) long and 71.9 metres (236 feet) high, collapsed cleanly according to plan.
Before detonation, higher parts of the bridge had been dismantled in order to better control the collapse. It was the first time ever a bridge of that height was detonated in Germany.
