Rotting New York bridge set to be torn down.

The 80-year-old Champlain Bridge, closed suddenly last month after the state found the concrete piers were rotting, is on the verge of collapse and too far gone to be saved, officials in New York and Vermont said Monday.

There is “no choice but to tear down the dangerously deteriorated bridge” and replace it, said Gov. David Paterson.

The state Department of Transportation has released no budget for a new bridge, although the office of state Sen. Betty Little, R-Queensbury, has indicated the project could cost $50 million.

Read the full story here.

£8,000 fine imposed upon LA Moore over illegal burial of fuel tanker.

UK-based LA Moore has been fined more than £8,000 after pleading guilty over the illegal burial of a contaminated fuel tanker.

The company was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £5,235 costs after pleading guilty at Yeovil magistrates court. The court heard the site near Wells where the tanker was buried lies within a groundwater protection zone and supplies water to nearby houses.

When the tanker was dug up it was found to have serious damage and had leaked.

Further details here.

With environmental problems addressed, demolition of Reunion Arena nears its conclusion.

The final parts of Dallas’ Reunion Arena are scheduled to come down next month, according to reports from Dallas News. The project’s completion has been delayed twice because of complications in the demolition process.

In August, the city announced a three-month delay after the discovery of Styrofoam insulation in the arena’s upper decks. The additional work, approved by the City Council, cost nearly $50,000. Asbestos was discovered in the arena’s lower-level retaining walls in September, the clean up costing a further $450,000, taking the total costs to more than $2.5 million. The demolition originally was to cost just over $2 million and be finished by November.

Appointed demolition contractor A&R Demolition plans to demolish the roof over a two-week period. Completion of the entire project, which includes leveling the site and making it a grassy field, is expected by March 2010.

Read the full story here.

A San Diego demolition contractor is offering local residents discount vouchers.

In what is either a brilliantly innovative marketing ploy or the desperate act of an industry in turmoil, a San Diego-based demolition contractor is offering local residents coupons that afford them with a 10% discount on the company’s demolition services.

The intriguingly-named Dr Demo is making the offer online, but it is not available for commercial demolition work. Apparently, this is one doctor that IS happy to make house calls.

More details can be found here.

Demolition in Pennsylvania to open neighbouring structure to elements. But that’s OK.

Ford City Borough Council in Pennsylvania passed a resolution last night to have Tom Sipes Demolition tear down the now infamous Building 228 in the Eljer/PPG complex at no cost to the borough. The centre of the debate came because the building is structurally connected to property owned by a Mr Dennis Tiche.

When the demolition was bid last April, Senate Engineering had compiled a list of specifications demolition companies were required to follow. Once the Borough’s part of the building is demolished, it will leave an opening in Tiche’s part of the building. Senate specified a wall to be erected to close off Tiche’s section and maintain the integrity of the structure. The agreement with Sipes does not include the same requirement.

Click here for the full story.

Demolition City game addicts can now feed their addiction on the move.

A few weeks ago, we brought you the worrying news that the highly addictive Demolition City game was destined for the iPhone app store. This electronic game allows players to implode increasingly complex 2D structures using a predetermined amount of explosives that must be placed strategically around the structure to ensure that the building falls below a certain level.

Well, kiss goodbye to your productivity because the game is available now.

Priced at £1.19 in the UK app store (expected to be $1.99 in the US store), the game plays remarkably well in such a relatively small format, which is great news for iPhone and iTouch users. And for non-iPhone users, you can just feel smug knowing that your productivity will not be effected by this electronic equivalent of crack cocaine.

Landmark dome at Douneray nuclear power station likely to be demolished.

Some had suggested it be turned in to a museum, a hotel or even a nightclub. Others had wanted its unmistakable outline to remain against the Caithness skyline as a monument to an age when the area pioneered the search for cheap power. However, the likelihood now seems that the landmark dome at Dounreay will be demolished.

It is 32 years since the reactor it housed last produced power, and 55 years since construction of Dounreay began. Now the body involved in the restoration of the vast site has identified removal as a key option.

Retaining the dome was always going to be expensive. It will cost several million pounds to decontaminate and maintenance costs would be in the region of £100,000 a year plus an additional £500,000 every ten years for painting, so its removal will be seen by many as the only realistic outcome.

Read the full story here.

Musician pens tribute to the just-imploded Owensboro hotel.

Long-term Demolition News readers may recall that back in June, in conjunction with C&D Consultancy’s John Woodward, we attempted to compile a list of music to conduct demolition to.

Well US country musician Heath Eric has now gone one stage further, writing a song to commemorate the demolition of the Executive Inn in Owensboro. You can hear the song, and relive the final moments of the hotel by clicking here.

Personally, we’d have thought that Elton John’s “I’m still standing” might have been more appropriate; but we’d welcome any alternative suggestions you might have. Please just use the Comments tab below.

Kocurek machine is new cinema star for GBM.

Work by GBM Demolition to pull down the Doncaster Odeon began today using a new piece of Kocurek ultra-high reach telescopic demolition equipment, said to be one of only three in the UK.

GBM Demolition has invested £200,000 in the new state-of-the-art equipment which has been bought in specially to aid the external demolition of the 22 metre Art Deco building, owned by Lazarus Properties.

The ultra-high 34 metre reach telescopic demolition accessory incorporating quick-change two position modular boom joint and base machine demolition conversion has been attached to a modified Volvo EC700BLC Standard Demolition excavator.

It is the first time worldwide that such a rig has carried the heavy duty 3,500 kg tool option at a pin height of 34 metres.

“We’re delighted to have this new equipment and are eager to see the full extent of its capabilities at first hand at our Doncaster demolition site,” says director Simon Grantham.

The demolition of the Doncaster Odeon site is expected to be complete by Christmas. Planning permission has been granted to turn the site into a £10 million development including a casino, gym, shops and office. Work on this project will begin in the New Year.

Work on blighted Bowstring Bridge halted by female protestor.

Work to demolish a derelict Victorian bridge in Leicester city centre has been halted by a protester who has chained herself to the railings.

All work was stopped when the woman climbed up Bowstring Bridge in the city’s West End at about 0600 GMT.

Campaigners fought to save the bridge and applied for it to have listed status but English Heritage said the structure did not meet the criteria.

Read the full story here.