Contractors this week will begin blasting the concrete piers that held up the bridge.
Motor vehicle traffic on the two U.S. 231 bridges will be stopped for a few minutes for the blasts.
Cecil Smith, area supervisor for Scott Bridge Co., said the company plans to dynamite at least three of the six concrete piers in the Tennessee River this week and hopes to demolish all six this week.
Company workers have been drilling holes in the piers to hold the dynamite charges, Smith said.
It will take two blasts to bring down each pier. The first blast will leave about 5 feet of the pier above the water line. The second shot in each pier will be underwater and will finish the demolition of each pier.
The remaining piers would be demolished next week if the work isn't finished this week.
When the piers disappear, there will be hardly any evidence that a bridge was built in 1931 to replace a ferry. The bridge was replaced by a $21.5 million span in June.
The state plans to build another bridge, possibly next year, where the Clay Bridge once stood. The state will demolish the 1965 southbound bridge once the other new bridge is completed.
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