Kaboom! TxDOT explodes Marble Falls bridge

To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

Before you could say Marble Falls, a bridge that stood over the Colorado River since the 1930s was gone.

More than a hundred people gathered along the river near U.S. 281 in Marble Falls to watch TxDot demolish the aging structure.

The blast was so intense people standing more than 1,000 feet away didn't just see and hear the blast – they felt it.

"I mean you felt it up here and immediately everybody was like, 'Whoa,' because nobody expected it to be that impressive and feel it that much from up here," Karen Ponder, one spectator said.

TxDot Executive Director Phil Wilson said the bridge explosion was a rare event.

"This is probably the fifth bridge ever blown up in the history of TxDOT,” Wilson said. “It's the largest truss bridge at 600 feet."

The reason for the explosive demolition is time.

"This was easier to do in 30 seconds than [what] would have taken three months to do otherwise," Wilson said.

Now all that's left are a few steel fragments peeking over the water. The steel will be removed and recycled into beautification projects around Marble Falls.

So, while the bridge is gone its pieces will stay a part of the Marble Falls community.

Watch the video to see the demolition and check out photos below by YNN's Develon Douglas.