NORTH SIOUX CITY, S.D. (KELO) — A railroad bridge that collapsed into the Big Sioux River earlier this summer is now being removed. Raging floodwaters back in June caused the North Sioux City crossing to collapse.
Using controlled blasting, officials began the process of removing a collapsed railway bridge crossing the Big Sioux River Monday morning. BNSF Railway said crews cut the bridge span into sections, allowing it to fall into the river for removal.
For the next week, they’ll begin taking pieces from the water and hauling them away. Now, many people are left standing outside the blocked-off area as they watch what they call a ‘historical piece’ come to an end.
“It’s kind of sad because I’m sure there’s a lot of history. I know it was it was built by the American Bridge Company. The bridge has been there a lot of years. A lot of tonnage went over that railroad bridge,” Sioux City, Iowa resident Michael Martin said.
BNSF said in a statement that the condition of the bridge made controlled blasting the safest removal option. A second blast is set for the Iowa side in September.
Some residents, like Shawn Francis, are sad to see the bridge go.
“This bridge behind me here, my whole life has been on that. We’ve got a tremendous amount of history. My dad was a maintenance foreman over at Milwaukee, and when I was a little kid, we used to go across the bridge. He’d wake me up Saturday morning at four and go have breakfast,” Francis said.
While some see this process as another part of flood damage repair, Francis watches as a lifetime of memories fall into the river.
“Seeing this drop, literally it broke my heart, you know. But it’s replaceable. Those memories are not. I really hope they do something that’s going to look nice, but still, you can’t replace it,” Francis said.
BNSF Railway said they do plan on reconstructing the bridge. A design plan is underway, and the rebuilding process is expected to take about nine months.
