Red Wing Bridge Demolition

Beginning on February 5, contractor Zenith Tech Inc. began removing the old spans from the Red Wing (Minn.) Bridge, also known as the Highway 63 Bridge and the Eisenhower Bridge, starting with the center span truss.

Platforms were installed on the truss and crews are in the process of installing special industrial jacks that can help lower the span onto a barge in the Mississippi River. Cables will be ready and tensioned to hold the truss as crews then start cutting it away to allow its lowering.

This bridge will have four jacks doing the work of lowering it about 15 feet per hour. At that rate, it’s expected to take approximately five hours to lower it onto a barge, which will then move it to shore, where it will be cut apart and taken to a scrap dealer.

A replacement bridge, called the Eisenhower Bridge of Valor, was completed in November alongside the existing bridge. It opened on November 21 after three years of construction. President Dwight Eisenhower dedicated the original bridge in 1960.