The dismantling of the Lake Street pedestrian bridge in Ogdensburg will enter its final phase next week with the piecemeal removal of the former span’s 60,000-ton cement center pier in the Oswegatchie River.

“They (the contracting firm Tuscarora Contracting, Pulaski) are planning on beginning that on Monday,” said city Public Works Director Kit W. Smith.

He said the job will take two weeks to complete.

Mr. Smith said Thursday that the $1.5 million, summer-long project “is still running on time” so that the former bridge’s nearby, recently installed 400-foot-long replacement can be opened to the public by Labor Day weekend.

The new crossing’s underside has already been fitted with working sewer and water lines.

The 16-foot-high pier will be taken apart gradually by a water-mixed, non-explosive chemical compound called dynamit that will be put into 100 holes that will be drilled into the concrete.

The mixture will expand, breaking up the concrete which will be collected on a makeshift barge that has been built around the pier.

The final touch for the new bridge will be shoreline landscaping at both ends. Mr. Smith said irrigation will probably be necessary if there is no rain.

The bridge will connect the city’s marina district to downtown.

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