Want to make a blasting job difficult? Suspend it over water and have vehicles moving through it. For over 50 years, BlastOne has helped corrosion control specialists to maintain and protect bridges. This includes some of the world’s most iconic bridges, such as San Francisco’s Golden Gate and Sydney Harbor Bridge.

The cost to maintain bridges is very high.  Bridges by their construction nature are often restricted for inspection access, an example of this is the underside area. This area often requires rope access specialists and the access to these structures costs more than the blasting and painting process.  Because the cost of bridge maintenance is high and the access is expensive, minimizing the amount of labor required for blasting and painting is of high importance. The first choice to make in extending the maintenance blasting cycle on a steel bridge is choosing a high performance, high quality abrasive. A clean, well profiled surface will enhance coating adhesion, extending the coating life. A quality abrasive will also reduce the time taken to blast the structure, reduced blasting time will reduce the cost of the specialized labor required for structures such as this. Less maintenance means less cost!

The reason we blast is because structures left to corrode without remedial action will eventually suffer catastrophic failure. The reality of this plays out in the number bridges that have failed because of corrosion. For example the “Silver Bridge” over the Ohio River between West Virginia and Ohio in December 1967 and the Lowe’s Motor Speedway pedestrian bridge in Concord, NC in May 2000. Bridge collapses almost always cause fatalities.  The inconvenience that the bridge is closed or partially closed is of no significance when compared to loss of life or total asset failure. We are blasting to maintain the integrity of the structure, public amenity, and preservation of life!