Innerbelt Bridge Demolition

This is a day that I have been waiting for for a very long time. The old innerbelt bridge in Cleveland was blown up today. Kaylah and I rushed to Tremont early in the morning to meet up with Brandon and Rachel and watch demolition. There were hundreds of people and so many of the streets were closed and areas roped off with police standing guard. Thankfully Brandon had beat us there and made friends with a condo owner who invited us to shoot the event from on top of his roof. I brought both my 60D and Mark III so that I could shoot video and photos. I rarely shoot video but I'm definitely glad that I did today. 

This is the bridge as it looked just before the implosion. The road bed had been removed months ago and only the steel frame remained. If you look closely at the next two photos you can see the electric lines connecting all of the explosives, and you can see the thick rubber blankets that are wrapped around the explosives to help control the blast.

Here is the short video showing the blast (best viewed full-screen).

A photo of the bridge sections dropping just after the blast.

Dust and debris in front of the Cleveland skyline.

My early morning view from the roof.

After meeting up with Mike and enjoying a quick breakfast at Nick's we headed back down to the bridge to try to shoot as much of the ruble and aftermath as we could.

A construction worker in front of the collapsed bridge puts into perspective just how enormous these sections were.

Cleveland's Terminal Tower from the ruins of the old bridge.

The construction workers wasted no time in chopping apart the bridge. Shortly after taking this photo one of the workers started screaming at us so we left.

Photos taken with a Canon Mark III, and Canon 60D; with a Canon 20mm f/2.8, and Canon 35mm f/1.4 lens.