Cold weather and ice hampers Champlain Bridge clean-up operation.

Crews started pulling chunks of the Champlain Bridge out of Lake Champlain Tuesday. It’s a process that will take months and spectators are lining up to see the cleanup.

Crews have begun the long and tedious process of removing all the debris from the lake, a process that’s expected to take at least four months.

“It’s definitely a big challenge with the ice and the weather,” said Greg Ball, of Harrison & Burrowes Construction. “Obviously today the wind is blowing 30 to 40 miles an hour and gusts of snow.”

Six barges, 45 people, and about 30 pieces of machinery will be used to complete the work. Most all of the pieces will have to be cut up before they’re removed, including the debris underwater.

Read more here.

Illinois city to conduct comprehensive review following bidding irregularities.

Mayor Sal Garza said he plans to conduct a “comprehensive review” of the city’s neighborhood improvement office after residents and contractors complained to City Council members about the bidding process for projects to demolish properties, with allegations that some contractors may have gained an unfair advantage by failing to follow state statutes.

The city’s neighborhood improvement supervisor, Dedra Mannon, who was in charge of inspecting properties that may have code violations, has moved to become the city’s human services coordinator.

Garza would not confirm nor deny if Mannon was going to switch jobs, saying he was not authorized to speak about personnel matters, but City Manager Dane Bragg confirmed she had switched positions, although a formal announcement has yet to be made.

Read the full story here.

High reach excavator will down Executive Inn south tower.

The changing skyline of Evansville continues today when another section of the old Executive Inn comes crashing down.

Demolition crews with the Klenck Company in Evansville spent Tuesday going back over the site to make sure it’s safe for demolition.

They have also set up a 35 metre perimeter safety zone around the site protect drivers during the demolition. Instead of demolishing the whole tower at once, crews will use an ultra high demolition excavator to carefully remove the upper stories first.

Read more here.

Cloak of secrecy lifted as Kraft Foods is revealed as potential implosion sponsor.

Texas Stadium may be saying cheese for its final close-up next year – macaroni and cheese, that is – after Kraft Foods was revealed as the front-runner to sponsor the arena’s implosion in March.

“We’re very proud to form a partnership with such a widely recognized and appreciated brand,” Irving Mayor Herbert Gears said Tuesday. “We wanted to make sure that the world got to experience the demolition of such a historic facility.”

The Irving City Council will vote on the contract with Kraft’s marketing representative, Hunter Public Relations, at a special meeting at 3:15 p.m. Thursday. The resolution is the only item on the agenda.

Read the full story here.

An Australian waterfront home contaminated with Uranium is to be demolished.

Plans to clean up the site of a former uranium smelter in Hunters Hill in New South Wales mean a four-storey waterfront mansion the NSW Government has repeatedly declared safe will be demolished.

In addition, 3000 cubic metres of radioactive earth will be dug out of two neighbouring properties and another 500 cubic metres are likely to be scraped from the harbour floor in front of the site at 11 Nelson Parade, subject to more tests by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation.

A secretive tendering process for removing the earth, in which bidders were forbidden from visiting the site or talking to neighbours, is under way. No environmental assessment or planning approval has been granted yet. The Herald understands the tests show elevated background radiation levels that in some cases exceed health guidelines, reinforcing results from independent tests last year by a private company, Australian Radiation Services. These showed that in some spots contamination was 350 times normal levels.

Full story here.

Californian contractor wins decontamination and demolition contract.

The Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory recently awarded a $10 million contract to a veteran-owned small business using funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

Clauss Construction, a California-based company, has been tapped to decontaminate and demolish Argonne’s Building 330, the former site of Chicago Pile-5. CP-5 was the fifth and last member of the distinguished family of “Chicago Pile” reactors, whose legacy ranges from the earliest efforts to develop nuclear reactors to current research aimed at retiring them safely.

The decontamination and demolition project, which is currently underway, will be completed in 12 to 14 months. The contract is the largest awarded by Argonne using ARRA money. After the work is completed, the land will be restored to native vegetation.

Read more here.

Cold War building winning battle against contractors.

Demolition of a Cold War bomb plant in Oak Ridge is proving difficult, and the Department of Energy doesn’t plan to extend the current contract.

Bechtel Jacob Co. and its subcontractors have taken down most of one wing of the huge, U-shaped K-25 building, but another wing and the north tower remain. The department modified and extended the contract last year, allowing more time to complete tearing down the mile-long contaminated structure. The contract is valued at $1.48 billion.

Accomplishing the task proved more difficult than expected. The department, Bechtel Jacobs and environmental regulators are still trying to determine the best way to safely take down the rest of the World War II-era plant.

Read more here.

Demolition of Saskatchewan pulp mill could start early in New Year.

Paper manufacturer Domtar is planning to demolish its dormant pulp mill in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada, according to an online report from the Saskatchewan News Network.

According to the report, a Domtar news release was issued in late December that says the Montreal-based company plans to “continue to remove machinery and equipment from the site and (would) take steps to engage the services of demolition contractors and file for a demolition permit.”

The demolition work could start in early 2010, says the report.

Read the full story here.

Union raises questions about FEMA demolition site in Iowa.

A trade union representing equipment operators at construction sites is raising questions about the safety of a Federal Emergency Management Agency demolition project in Louisa County.

The $780,000 FEMA-funded project will demolish 57 structures damaged by flooding in summer 2008. The Louisa County Board of Supervisors hired a nonunion firm from Walford to handle the demolition.

Representatives from the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 say the firm, D.W. Zinser, is improperly handling debris that could contain asbestos.

Read more here.

Weather delayed implosion finally takes place.

After 80 years of extreme temperatures and weather, the bridge that connected northern New York State to Vermont across Lake Champlain had it’s concrete piers erode beyond repair. The bridge was closed on October 16th, when engineers determined that the bridge was no longer safe. So under the cover of snow, a small crowd watched the 665 metre (2,184 foot) span explode and collapse.

You can view a slideshow of still images here or, alternatively, watch the video below.