A minor bummer for me, a major bummer for the local residents. Some months ago engineers discovered that the Champlain bridge was so compromised structurally that they immediately closed it down, and over the christmas holiday, they blew it up. There’s a video of that demolition below. The minor bummer for me is that I’ve travelled extensively in that region of upstate NY, and several times drove past that bridge without ever crossing over it. I’d even planned to several times as part of the annual kids camping weekend trip at Roger’s Rock Campground, but just never got around to it. If you’re unfamiliar with the area, it was the only drivable crossing of Lake Champlain, and local residents are now faced with using the seasonal ferry or daily commutes approaching 100 miles. They’re trying to work with the federal government to  get a replacement bridge constructed, but even if they succeed it’s going to take many years.   Here’s the location of the bridge on google maps, and below a local tv station’s footage of the demolition.

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