The largest pier of the old San Francisco Bay Bridge was detonated in a controlled explosion saturday. Caltrans imploded the upper portion of the pier with 22,000 pounds of dynamite at 7:17am, a time when officials hoped to take advantage of light traffic, slack tide and limited smelt. That’s right, a concerted effort was made to protect the endangered longfin smelt.

In an explosion this large, it was estimated that approximately 1,775 longfin smelt could be killed, as well as other marine life. In an attempt to prevent this, Caltrans sprayed a wall of bubbles on the underwater portion of the pier to hopefully contain the shockwave.

Additionally, scientists were posted on boats to ward away other birds and mammals from the explosion.

Read the full article here.