Call it a bridge too far gone.
Two barges sailed the center section of the old Kosciuszko Bridge into oblivion on Wednesday morning, ending the first phase of the 78-year-old span’s state-led demolition, which — sadly — did not feature any explosions.
Workers began lowering the 300-foot long, 50-foot tall section onto the vessels waiting 125 feet beneath it on Tuesday, using massive steel cables that dropped it at a rate of 20-feet-per hour.
The process concluded on Wednesday, as the barges floated the 2,400-ton chunk of metal down the Newtown Creek and into the East River.
The state plans to blow up the remaining ends of the severed bridge sometime in August, but has not set a specific date. It will recycle around 26-million pounds of metal from the old span, which opened in 1939 to replace the Meeker Avenue Bridge.
A new Kosciuszko Bridge opened in April to replace the aging Brooklyn–Queens crossing, and a sister span — which will also be named after Polish military engineer Tadeusz Kosciuszko, who, ironically, is recognized for blowing up bridges during the American Revolutionary War — is set to debut in 2020.
