Parkway East Commercial Street Bridge Explosive Demolition: How To Watch

PITTSBURGH, PA — The Parkway East Commercial Street Bridge will be explosively demolished on Wednesday, and PennDOT will show live feeds of the span as it tumbles down into rubble.

People can view the explosive demolition from a safe distance via the live feed camera displaying the Commercial Street Bridge on the Commercial Street Bridge webpage or the specialized 511PA webpage at https://www.511pa.com/map/page/CommercialStBridge. The camera will run live through the closure of the bridge.

The explosion is expected to occur sometime between 1 p.m. and 9 p.m. PennDOT will offer a more specific time later today.

The bridge, a key section of the parkway between the eastern end of the Squirrel Hill Tunnel and the Edgewood/Swissvale exit, closed on July 10 so that it could be razed and its replacement span slid into place.

The project, which will last at last until Aug. 3, has resulted in lengthy detours for 100,000 motorists daily.

PennDOT officials said today's explosive process will only occur after crews and emergency personnel have cleared the blast radius on the ground and in the air and have declared the zone safe for explosion.

Residents in the area may proceed as usual in and around their homes. But PennDOT said they should be advised of a loud sound during the explosion and anticipate additional dust afterwards.

The $95 million Commercial Street Bridge replacement project is utilizing Accelerated Bridge Construction Techniques to laterally slide the new bridge onto the existing alignment of the parkway. It's one of the largest lateral slide projects ever performed in Pennsylvania.