I-40 Crosstown Bridge Demolition?

[Paule4ou]

I was taking the water taxi boat ride in Bricktown this weekend and the driver mentioned that Hollywood has signed a contract to "blow up" the bridge when it finally does come down so they can use the footage in a future movie. Has anyone heard anything about this?

[betts]

Maybe that and recycling the steel is how the are planning to pay for it's removal.

[shawnw]

And recycling the concrete? That's a lot of concrete that can be recovered (put back into the mix as aggregate) and I thought the prices were high on concrete also? Or is there no longer a shortage?

[Thunder]

This is gonna be so amazing. Hoping we will know a set date where the bridge will explode so we can video raw footage and compared to the special effects in the movie.

[jn1780]

I have my doubts about the blowing up thing. What about the sections over the streets?

[Thunder]

I have my doubts about the blowing up thing. What about the sections over the streets?

Most importantly, what I was thinking was the sections above the canal and right next to the monuments.

[warreng88]

Most importantly, what I was thinking was the sections above the canal and right next to the monuments.

Right, cause making sure debris doesn't get in water or knock over things that can be replaced is more important than a person's well-being...

[jn1780]

Right, cause making sure debris doesn't get in water or knock over things that can be replaced is more important than a person's well-being...

I think Thunder was assuming the streets would be closed. They could protect and move all that stuff if they wanted to, but I think it would be too much trouble and disrupt traffic for too long.

[Thunder]

I think Thunder was assuming the streets would be closed. They could protect and move all that stuff if they wanted to, but I think it would be too much trouble and disrupt traffic for too long.

Such a smart guy. :-)

[Snowman]

While I think someone mentioned this as a possibility offset costs it had neither found someone willing to pay or been approved. Hollywood likes the kind of explosions that come from gas explosions that make a lot of fire and smoke but that does little to several inches of concrete and steel, the kind of explosives used to bring something like this do neither they are the minimum amount of high explosives placed at key points to cause the material to be pulled down by gravity. Plus it seems a very small number of story line that will have a completely empty 6 lane highway in an urban core exploding.

Lets assume for a minute if explosives are used in the demolition and it is being packaged for use by Hollywood; this would mean having additional explosions which will mean additional complications and liability (meaning more cost) so possible would not cover the expense of making it look good.

[jn1780]

While I think someone mentioned this as a possibility offset costs it had neither found someone willing to pay or been approved. Hollywood likes the kind of explosions that come from gas explosions that make a lot of fire and smoke but that does little to several inches of concrete and steel, the kind of explosives used to bring something like this do neither they are the minimum amount of high explosives placed at key points to cause the material to be pulled down by gravity. Plus it seems a very small number of story line that will have a completely empty 6 lane highway in an urban core exploding.

Lets assume for a minute if explosives are used in the demolition and it is being packaged for use by Hollywood; this would mean having additional explosions which will mean additional complications and liability (meaning more cost) so possible would not cover the expense of making it look good.

I don't think that is actually the biggest issue. They would use pyrotechnics for the "gas explosions" and conventional demolition charges for the actual implosion. Not much different then the that hotel that was imploded in Vegas several years ago.



Other then that I don't see why Hollywood would want or need real footage. Real life physics is boring and more expensive compared to what Hollywood can do with CGI. Also, didn't that last die hard movie already have a highway bridge demolition? I think that was all CGI.

[Thunder]

OH MY MESSIAH!!! That is so frickin AWESOME!!! I really hope OKC learned from this and do the same for Downtown in a future demolition. Most of us are going to be dead, but if a structural defect is found within our lifetime, I hope Devon does way better than in that video. :-O

[Larry OKC]

I was taking the water taxi boat ride in Bricktown this weekend and the driver mentioned that Hollywood has signed a contract to "blow up" the bridge when it finally does come down so they can use the footage in a future movie. Has anyone heard anything about this?

Are they still saying we are going to get a Planet Hollywood and Hard Rock Cafe? I did the classic spit take when I heard them say that (and they continued saying it for years)

[Steve]

Larry is right. The water taxi drivers have a history of spinning tall tales... much to Urbanized Okie's dismay

[MDot]

Yeah, I caught on to that as well when I first read this thread. The water taxi drivers have always been very dramatic about certain things and for anyone in Hollywood to actually consider the I-40 demolition is almost funny to me. It would be cool if it happened :-) but never take the water taxi drivers seriously unless they are telling you the history of Oklahoma City and not the future of it.

[Steve]

Hopefully Urbanized Okie will address this... I've brought it to his attention. They try very hard to get the drivers to provide a good accurate tour... but these things ultimately will still happen from time to time.

[MDot]

Yeah and it gets kinda old sometimes cause you hear things that are interesting sometimes that they told you then you find out what they said was nothing near the truth. But it's all for laughs, so most of the time I just laugh along with em'.

[Thunder]

My first ride was on the recent 4th of July. No clue what that female said, but she sure does need a bit more training handling that boat. And the poor ducks (the babies, too) scrambled to escape death.

[Urbanized]

LOL, not a part of the official tour material for sure. For the record: as far as I know, there are no agreements with Hollywood to demolish the bridge for a movie. I'll address it with the tour guides, who occasionally go off the reservation. Most are very careful to adhere to our 60+ pages of vetted tour material, but unfortunately at times there are exceptions.

[MDot]

Thanks Urbanized. It's not that big a deal for me but I would appreciate it if they stuck to facts sometimes. That's my only problem and it's not even a real problem.

[Urbanized]

Yeah, trust me; it's far more irritating to you than me when someone decides to freelance. We give them copious, accurate material to work from. Most put in excellent effort to learn this material, and it shows. Those who shortcut the learning process don't last long with us.

Usually mistakes are made mostly by those who are new, impressionable and have not yet taken all of the tour material to heart. This is compounded by the seasonal nature of our business, where each season around 50% of our employees are new by necessity. Sometimes, before they have been around the block a few times, they will have an enthusiastic friend, relative or passenger give them bad info (we see this type of info pop up all of the time on this very board, don't we), and they will run with it as fact. Eventually I'm usually able to find out about it it and correct the bad info, or one of our more experienced staff will do the same. An important part of the training is to make them understand that any new info should be carefully confirmed before adding it. It's a season-in-season-out challenge.

I think you'll find however that most of our ambassadors are highly-trained, conscientious, and incredibly enthusiastic about OKC.

[MDot]

Yes they are very well trained and do there job very well and provide interesting facs but every now and then there's someone who says something false, which you just now explained so now I understand the confussion on their behalf.

And for the record, it's not as irritating as I may have made it seem like, I was just exaggerating the point.

[Urbanized]

Oops! I mean, far more irritating to ME than YOU!

[MDot]

Well either way I understand and see your position. Thanks for clarifying though.

[shane453]

When I was driving Bricktown tours, I would usually convey "urban legends" or rumors like this since they are fun and entertaining for the passengers, but always tried to make the nature of the statement clear as just a joke. When I first heard this one, the story was that the rumor came from a passenger. Stories get passed between drivers in different ways, and then if you can imagine telling the same stories 10 or more times per day, sometimes you might just embellish your own stories... It's kind of like how those family stories everyone tells at Christmas get a little funnier and further from the truth each year...

But, UrbanizedOkie is right- most of the drivers are very well informed about the history/present/future of Oklahoma City, and Bricktown in particular. In my experience, a lot of the break room chatter at Water Taxi was about downtown/Bricktown news, whatever Steve had to report for the day, or new businesses opening in the area- for the most part they do a great job keeping up with the facts.