Old Kosciuszko Bridge demolition will not happen today, despite reports

The old Kosciuszko Bridge will not go out with a bang, it turns out. In fact, it won’t even go out today, contrary to a score of Facebook events with attendees in the thousands. The state’s Department of Transportation has confirmed to Brooklyn Eagle and WNYC that demolition is “definitely not happening” today, and when it does happen, it’s not going to be the event of the century that it’s been worked up to be.

Instead, the implosion will go like this: the middle portion of the old Kosciuszko Bridge will be lowered down onto barges and taken out of Newtown Creek. Then the approaches will come down in a process called energetic felling. (See what that looks like here.) Good news is there’s still some kind of explosion, but it isn’t the dynamite demolition of epic proportions that’s become a part of popular imagination.

The old bridge’s removal will make room for the second, incoming Kosciuszko Bridge span to rise. That span is expected to be complete in 2020, and will serve Brooklyn-bound traffic. The first new span will carry traffic both ways until the second bridge is constructed.

• Hey Buddy, Wanna Buy a Bridge Explosion? [WNYC]
• No Big Bang: Kosciuszko Bridge not being demolished Tuesday [Brooklyn Eagle]
• Kosciuszko Bridge rebuild gets a boost from…dynamite? [Curbed]