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Locals watch Foxburg bridge be destroyed

A spectator watches as explosives demolish the Foxburg Bridge in Foxburg on the morning of Thursday, July 24, 2008. Butler Eagle file photo

A small flash, a deafening bang, and when the thick brown smoke cleared all that remained of the former Foxburg bridge was a stone pier and a few mangled trusses poking up from the Allegheny River.

About 150 people gathered July 24, 2008, along the shores, joined by two dozen more in boats, for the demolition of the one-lane Warren Truss Bridge, which carried both rail and passenger traffic between Armstrong and Clarion counties until the 1960s. Demtech, a Wyoming-based company, used 200 C4 explosive charges to drop the bridge, which was about 10 feet downstream from its $10.1 million replacement, into the river.

Mark Hillwig, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, said the bridge was built in 1921.

A production crew from the Discovery Channel also filmed the demolition as part of a report on demolition work to be aired later on television.

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