JONESVILLE — The Jonesville Black River Bridge, built in the 1930s, is set to go out with a bang over the next two weeks.

The James Construction Group will demolish the bridge over the course of four days in July, with potential future demolitions to eliminate remaining concrete, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development District 58 Engineer Administrator Ricky Moon said.

“At detonation, if you can see it, you will hear a loud bang and see a cloud of smoke and dust,” Project Engineer Justin Reeves said. “It’ll only be a matter of seconds before the bridge goes down, once the button is pushed.”

Reeves said the detonation is taking place over multiple explosions because of permitting requirements by the Coast Guard and the Louisiana State Police.

“What it amounts to is the contractor is only given a certain span of time to clear debris from the river,” he said. “So we can only blow one piece at a time to meet these requirements.”

The first explosion is set to take place at 2 p.m. Friday. Evacuations of some Jonesville residents will occur from 9 a.m. to noon, the river will be closed to barge traffic at 12:30 p.m. and highway and street traffic will be closed at approximately 1:30 p.m.

“We will be demolishing the two steel truss spans on the west side of the river,” Moon said.

On Saturday, the detonation of one truss span on the east side of the river is set to take place at 5 p.m. Evacuations of some Jonesville residents will occur from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. the river will be closed to barge traffic at 2 p.m., and highway and street traffic will be closed at approximately 4:30 p.m.

“On Saturday, people should be able to see the explosion from the park north of the bridge,” Reeves said.

On Thursday July 23, the explosion is set to take place at 2 p.m. Evacuations of some Jonesville residents will occur from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., the river will be closed to barge traffic at 12:30 p.m. and highway and street traffic will be closed at approximately 1:30 p.m.

“The center swing span will be demolished on the 23rd,” Moon said. “This one could see river traffic delayed.”

On Saturday July 25, the detonation of the approach span on the east side of the river is set to take place at 5 p.m. Evacuations of some Jonesville residents will occur from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., the river will be closed to barge traffic at 2 p.m. and highway and street traffic will be closed at approximately 4:30 p.m.

“A viewing location is not currently planned,” Reeves said. “But people should be able to see it from the roadway at the point of closure.”

Moon said while he does not expect state police to allow a massive crowd to gather, he does expect locals to show up.

“I expect people who have lived here with it to show up and be there to see it get sent off,” he said.