By Dean Welte, Katie Copple, RJ Breen and KTIV Staff
Published: Aug. 19, 2024 at 7:04 AM CDT
NORTH SIOUX CITY, S.D. (KTIV) - Monday morning, a controlled blast successfully went off at a collapsed rail bridge between Sioux City and North Sioux City.
KTIV was at the blast and covered it live. We were able to get two angles of the explosion, one from Military Road and one from the Sioux City Railroad Museum. You can see both those angles in the video below.
The controlled blast went off at 9 a.m., marking the next step of demolishing the South Dakota side of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe bridge.
Before it happened, at about 8:45 a.m., checkpoints were established and roads within 1,000 feet of the bridge were closed in Sioux City and North Sioux City.
At about 8:50 a.m. all personnel were in safe locations and the public was advised to stay out of the 1,000-foot exclusion zone while those who lived within it were asked to stay inside.
After the blast went off, which sent shockwaves across the area, crews checked that everything was safe. An all-clear signal was quickly given, meaning nearby roads could be reopened.
“Once they conducted the explosion right at 9 a.m. I could feel the ground shake. There were car alarms going off. It was short. It was loud but it looks like it did the job,” said Sgt. Tom Gill, Sioux City Police Department.
With this first blast now done, BNSF, who operate that line, will begin taking apart the South Dakota half of the bridge.
“BNSF Railway and its contractors used controlled blasting today to begin the process of removing a bridge span from the Big Sioux River at North Sioux City, South Dakota,” stated Kendall Sloan, BNSF Director of External Communications. “At 9 a.m. local time, charges were successfully used to cut the bridge span into sections, allowing it to fall into the river for removal. Using a crane, crews will remove the sections from the river. For approximately the next week, crews will work on hauling the sections away.”
Amy McBeth, the BNSF Director of Public Affairs, says the blast for the Iowa side of the bridge is tentatively planned for early September. She says once both halves of the bridge are out of the river, work will begin for a replacement bridge so the line can run again.
“The condition and position of the failed spans made controlled blasting the safest way to remove them. Crews will remove the second span on the Iowa side with a second controlled blasting operation in September. Exact timing will be determined soon,” stated Sloan. “BNSF plans on reconstructing the bridge and the design process is underway. The rebuild schedule is expected to be about nine months and is dependent on material availability and required permit approvals.
According to McBeth, the two halves of the bridge are being removed separately because of how it is located over a river.
“We have to build a causeway, as you can see behind me, to be able to get the crane in and to remove the material. So when that is done we’ll come out of the South Dakota side and essentially do the same thing on the Iowa side. Create a causeway so that we can get material in there to help cranes and equipment like that,” said McBeth.
This bridge was a major transportation line for BNSF and for one of its shortline partners. Since it collapsed, shipments have had to be rerouted.
“We’ve had to use other routes to be able to get the region’s commodities to markets around the country. Railroads move everything from aggregates to grain, to ethanol to consumer products, you name it. So, it is an important way for us to transport goods around the country and certainly for this region,” said McBeth. “We’ve had to use other routes to do that. After this removal starts, then we’ll start the process for rebuilding this bridge.”
For the new bridge, McBeth says it will be a modern design.
“So this is what we would call a truss-span bridge and it will be replaced,” said McBeth referring to the old bridge. “As we rebuild the new bridge it will be a modern through-plate girder plate, as it is known. So it will look different it is much more similar to what we do with modern railroad bridges today.”
McBeth says the new bridge will be built in a way to help it withstand future flooding.
When and why did the bridge collapse
The BNSF rail bridge that spans the Big Sioux River has been a mainstay of the area for over a hundred years. But on Sunday, June 23, the bridge began collapsing due to the record flooding being seen across Northwest Iowa.
On that day, the South Dakota side of the railroad bridge began collapsing late Sunday night. The break came in the middle of two sections that connect North Sioux City, South Dakota and Sioux City.
Read More: ‘It’s bittersweet’ - Sioux City resident recalls bridge inspections with father, severe accident as BNSF train bridge comes down
Slowly over several days, as the flood waters rose on the Big Sioux River, the South Dakota section of the bridge began moving farther apart from its Iowa half collecting debris on its back side as the flood waters pushed through.
Hundreds of Siouxlanders stopped to see the collapse for themselves as it was happening.
When the waters began to recede the bridge sank too. As the Big Sioux River moved back into its banks the true scope of this collapse was shown.
This collapse made national news severing a long-held transportation line between South Dakota and Iowa.
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