Wabash River bridge linking Indiana-Illinois demolished

EAST MOUNT CARMEL, Ind. — A bridge that linked southwestern Indiana and southeastern Illinois for nearly 80 years has been all but demolished by a series of demolition explosions that sent steel girders plunging into the Wabash River.

Wednesday's demolition left one remaining span of the bridge between Mount Carmel, Ill., and Gibson County, Indiana. That section will be demolished later this month.

The Evansville Courier & Press reports that dozens of Mount Carmel residents, workers and others watched on the Illinois bank of the river as the detonations blasted much of the bridge into the river.

The bridge was no longer needed because a new bridge has opened nearby. It carries traffic from Illinois Route 15/Indiana 64 across the river into Gibson County, linking Mount Carmel to Princeton, Ind., 10 miles to the east.