Pittsburgh’s Parkway East reopened a full week ahead of schedule after crews imploded the old Commercial Street bridge, and drivers were thrilled to get their commute back early. But it turns out the story wasn’t quite finished when that bridge came down. About 24 hours after the blast, while cleanup crews were clearing debris from the site, a piece of equipment struck a stick of dynamite that never went off during the original implosion. It detonated right there on camera.
The moment was caught on PennDOT’s construction cameras around 7:40 a.m. on the 17th, and the footage shows a sudden plume of dust filling the air while workers scatter and others turn to see what just happened. Nobody expected a second explosion a full day after the demolition was supposed to be finished.
District 11 senior assistant construction manager John Meyler confirmed to KDKA that an operator working the cleanup struck what he called a piece of unknown, unexploded dynamite, and it went off. The demolition contractors had already swept the site after Thursday’s implosion and given the all clear, but Friday’s surprise sent them right back in to comb the area again, just to be sure nothing else was hiding in the rubble…