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Spectators Take In Historic Greenfield Bridge Implosion In Person

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Standing on the Parkway East Monday morning, about 50 invited guests watched history happen as the old Greenfield Bridge was demolished.

Dorothy Griffin lives right next to Greenfield Bridge.

"The pieces are bigger than I expected," she said. "I thought it was going to be more pulverized than it is. I can see they're going to have a lot of clean up to do after this."

It could set a record for the amount of mess created in such little time.

It took mere seconds for the 93-year-old bridge to fall on top of the Parkway East. The implosion, carefully created, was according to Rich Connors, a bridge engineer with Allegheny County, was seamless.

"I think it went great. I don't think it could've gone any better," he said.

Conners worked for the city in the early 1980s when there was an effort to rehab the span. He says for him the demolition is bittersweet, but he's glad he got to see it from this perspective.

"It's pretty cool to be down here to get a pass to come on the Parkway East," he said. "I know a lot of people are up above and the approaching roadways, but it was good to be down here at ground level to see it."

Meanwhile, in Schenley Park, people gathered hours before the scheduled demolition to see it happen in person. Adam Leong was the first person there.

"It's not many times I get to see an implosion live," he said. "I see them on TV, but the last implosion I saw was Three Rivers Stadium."

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Former Pittsburghers, in town for the holidays, stood near new residents to see the nearly century year old bridge come crashing down.

"Everybody's been talking about it, there's a lot of buzz about it, especially in our neighborhood, and so we thought it would be a cool thing for the kids to see," said Elkys Torres, of Squirrel Hill. "They're from Miami and they've never seen so many bridges. And to see one implode is just something new."

"I asked my sister and she said that they're going to blow up this bridge and I've never seen anything like that, it sounded so exciting," said Smitty Connolly, of Fairfax, Virginia.

And when it happened, nearly everyone who came to see and hear it, said the nine seconds of boom was worth the wait. A moment of Pittsburgh history unfolding before their eyes.

"It was crazy, very fun," said one person. "I'm glad I came."

City Operations director Guy Costa said Monday afternoon that crews were out all day surveying the area to see if any homes or businesses were damaged from the implosion, and he said all looks good.

Griffin, meanwhile, now has a view of the remains of the Greenfield Bridge from her house.

"I can see the Parkway now," she said. "Before I could see the bridge. Now, we start the reconstruction, which is the exciting part."

Despite her home's proximity to the blast site, she says her humble abode didn't get damaged from the blast.

Griffin's brother lives next door. Contractors boarded up his stained glass windows with plywood just to be on the safe side. The wood came down after the implosion, and everything looks to be in good shape.

Not far from there, Patrick Skora says he watched the implosion from the back of his home. Crews said to stay away from windows if you lived less than 1,000 feet away, but Skora took the risk and watched with his windows open.

"It was just fun to watch," he said. "No damage, a little bit of smoke and soot, but that got rinsed off in the rain."

Skora says he was slightly worried about the windows before the implosion.

"I rent it, but it's about 50 or 60 years old, at least," he said. "I was worried about the windows because they're older and there was a lot of shaking. I was worried the windows would kind of blow up and cave in."

The house did rattle, but everything was fine, and folks say they're ready for a new bridge to be put in its place.

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