Spectators gathered at Roadside Park in St. Albans on Friday for a historic moment when a portion of the Nitro-St. Albans Bridge came crashing down amidst the sounds of warning sirens and a loud explosion that echoed throughout the western edges of Kanawha County around 10 a.m.
St. Albans police blocked traffic along MacCorkle Avenue and Third Street at the alley where Taco Bell and Tim Horton’s sit. The startling boom from the explosives used shook neighboring houses and windows as on-lookin pedestrians viewed the demolition from designated areas.
No one was permitted on the C&O Motors car lots or on the north side of the road. and the St. Albans High School football stadium and school bus garages also were secured.
The Bridge was named the "Richard J. 'Dick' Henderson Memorial Bridge" in 1999 and was originally built in 1934 by the City of St. Albans for $328,000 and was initially a toll bridge, where patrons had to pay 25 cents per car and 5 cents per additional person. The Bridge is the dividing line and symbol for the “Battle of the Bridge" rivalry between Nitro and St. Albans High School and was declared eligible for the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.
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