PITTSBURGH — The Commercial Street Bridge explosive demolition was postponed after gatherers spent hours camped out nearby with hopes of seeing the spectacle.
Sources tell 11 Investigator Chief Investigator Rick Earle that there were “issues with some part of the deck that prevented crews from moving some equipment in time.” Eventually, they ran out of daylight and decided to call it a day.
City officials told Earle that they expressed concerns about the timeline earlier today, but they moved police, fire and EMS into place even though they were not optimistic about the demolition happening on Wednesday.
A PennDOT spokesperson added that crews were working to install explosives and put in a fence, which couldn’t be done in time on Wednesday.
The new demolition window is between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Thursday.
Channel 11 spoke with some disappointed people who waited hours to see the bridge explosion. One neighbor told us she came back to the area multiple times.
“I was out with friends earlier, decided to come back to see it because we were watching it on the news as to what time it was supposed to happen. And it’s not. So I guess I’ll take my daily walk again tomorrow and see what progresses,” Susan Conte said.
Many people said they plan to come back out on Thursday.
Contractors are continuing with safety preparations.
Channel 11’s cameras will be back out at the scene tomorrow morning. We will have you covered with LIVE coverage of the demolition on Channel 11 Morning News, streaming in-app and on the WPXI YouTube page.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW