Savanna-Sabula Bridge Demolition Scheduled for Friday

SAVANNA - The Illinois Department of Transportation announced that a planned implosion of the main truss of the old U.S. 52-Illinois 64 bridge will take place, weather permitting, the morning of Friday, March 9.

To ensure public safety, IDOT is working with local authorities to establish a viewing radius of at least 1,500 feet from the bridge. The public is urged to cooperate to keep the event on schedule.

Illinois 84 will be closed from approximately Randolph Street on the south to roughly 2,000 feet north of the bridge immediately before and after the demolition, for a total of approximately 15 minutes.

The implosion is necessary to blast the bridge's framework into the Mississippi River, where it will be dismantled and removed via barge. Footage of the event will be shared afterward on IDOT's YouTube channel.

Built in 1932 as a private toll bridge, the structure connected Savanna and Sabula, Iowa, before its replacement opened Nov. 17, 2017. The new Savanna-Sabula bridge cost $80.6 million and took more than two years to build, with a modernized design, two wider lanes and shoulders to address longtime safety concerns.

Traffic to the new bridge was closed Feb. 26, due to unforeseen issues encountered by the Iowa Department of Transportation during the reconstruction of the overflow bridge just north of Sabula. A detour route is posted using Illinois 84, Illinois 136 west to Clinton and U.S. 67 north to Sabula to connect with U.S. 52 and Iowa 64. The bridge is tentative to reopen in late May.