The Michigan Strategic Fund voted Tuesday to approve $6 million in demolition funds to raze Joe Louis Arena once the Detroit Red Wings move into a new arena on the north end of downtown.

Under terms of the agreement for the demolition funds, the new arena must be built before the demolition money would be freed up for use. The demolition funds would eventually be repaid to the Strategic Fund through new tax revenues captured by the city in the downtown district.

The exact cost of the demolition is not yet known. The $6-million estimate approved Tuesday could go as high as $10 million, although MSF staff said the cost is expected to be closer to the $6 million or even less than that.

After the MSF meeting at Next Energy in Detroit, Michael Finney, president and CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corp. and chairman of the strategic fund board, said that the state funding for demolition is worth it because the new arena and related entertainment district around it will produce huge new investment in the city.

We do expect that this project will serve as a catalyst, he said of the arena project. And noting the Ilitch family, owner of the Red Wings, has pledged to invest $200 million in spin-off developments near the new arena, Finney added, The project only works if the private development happens, so we think it will be a catalyst, and the way that the deal is structured really helps to ensure that that development happens.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, John Lauve of Holly criticized the MSF fund for not making more information about the project public before voting on it.

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Michigan approves funds for Joe Louis Arena demolition

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Behind schedule and over-budget again. That's the latest on the Bay Bridge project, but this time with the demolition of the old eastern span.

There's an ambitious plan afoot to get the demolition back on track and save money. You'll be able to see this plan in action as you're driving across the new bridge.

It's happened so many times, it's hardly a surprise.

The money is for more workers to get the delayed project back on schedule before an even worse delay.

Birds, including a pair of peregrine Falcons, may try to nest on the old bridge while they're tearing it down.

"Once they get in and they start nesting, it's very difficult and you need permits and approvals to take them out," Gordon said.

They're putting out netting to keep them away from what's bound to be a delicate operation.

"This cantilever, this cantilever is really something," Engineer Brian Maroney said.

Maroney has studied inside and out how the old bridge was built. He showed reporters how the cantilever works.

"I release this, it will fall down. It's not stable," Maroney said.

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Demolition to begin of Bay Bridge cantilever

OAKLAND, Calif.

Demolition of the old eastern span of the Bay Bridge is months behind schedule because Caltrans put almost all its efforts in getting the new span open last Labor Day weekend. So, officials added $12.7 million to the demolition budget; a move Caltrans says will actually save much more money later in the demolition process.

Soon, Bay Area residents and visitors will be seeing something that hasn't been seen in in three quarters of a century and will appear to defy gravity.Right now, one would have to look underneath the twin peaked cantilever section of the old eastern Bay Bridge to see just how much of it is already gone. Bridge officials have decided to speed up demolition so it can take the rest of the old span down on time or early.

"That is gonna pay for additional crew and equipment to take down both halves of the cantilever at the same time," says Andrew Gordon, Bay Bridge Project Spokesman.

With even mild inflation, the longer it takes, the more it costs.

"The Toll Bridge Project Oversight Committee believes that by keeping us on schedule we will actually see cost savings at the end," says Gordon.

Caltrans Chief Bridge Engineer Brian Maroney says, "So this is what they're gonna be doing in about the next month. Deconstruct this structure in reverse order."

What folks will see is a sight not seen in almost eighty years; a gap that will grow and grow.

"That last cut, when somebody will go, these things, they are no longer touching," said Maroney.

But, with all the modifications such as the s-curve and retrofitting made to the old span, will it come apart the same way it went together or could it collapse or fly apart?

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Bay Bridge demolition behind schedule

Media observe the dismantling project on the cantilever section of the old Bay Bridge in Oakland, Calif., on Monday, March 24, 2014. The Toll Bridge Program Oversight Committee announced a plan to remove the east and west cantilever sections simultaneously bringing the removal process back on schedule to be completed by the spring of 2016 and increasing the cost by $12.6 million. (Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

OAKLAND -- Caltrans says it will put the $300 million demolition of the old Bay Bridge east span back on schedule by paying $12.7 million for extra labor and equipment.

The three- to five-year-long demolition project fell several months behind schedule out the starting gate when Caltrans reallocated labor and resources to open the $6.4 billion new east span as soon as possible. It opened Sept. 2 after years of delays and cost overruns.

Caltrans said Monday it will regain the lost time by paying the contractor extra to simultaneously tear down both halves of the cantilever section of the bridge after crews cut it in half in the next three or four weeks. The 1,400-foot-long cantilever section is about a quarter-mile east of Yerba Buena Island and has the tallest steel frames on the east side of the island.

Brian Maroney, chief bridge engineer, tapes a diagram of the cantilever section of the old Bay Bridge to help describe the new dismantling plan at the Caltrans offices in Oakland, Calif., on Monday, March 24, 2014. The Toll Bridge Program Oversight Committee announced a plan to remove the east and west cantilever sections simultaneously bringing the removal process back on schedule to be completed by the spring 2016 and increasing the cost by $12.6 million. (Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

"This will put the demolition project back on schedule," Caltrans spokesman Andrew Gordon said Monday in a media briefing and tour of the demolition site.

The gap between the two bridge sections eventually will become a dramatic piece of history and photo opportunity, said Brian Maroney, a Caltrans engineer.

However, the gap will start out too small to even be noticed by the tens of thousands of motorists whizzing by on the new Bay Bridge.

"On the new bridge, you will miss it," Maroney said. "By summer, when you have 500 feet (in the gap,) you will won't be able to miss it. People will tell their grandchildren that this is what they saw."

The demolition by a joint venture of California Engineering Contractors/Silverado Contractors is preparing for the big milestone starting late this month. Crews with torches will cut the cantilever section in half after using hydraulic jacks to brace the two sections so they don't fall into the bay.

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$12.7 million extra to put Bay Bridge demolition back on schedule

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OAKLAND (CBS SF) Caltrans officials said on Monday that work will begin soon on a key part of the demolition of the 77-year-old original east span of the Bay Bridge.

Demolition work began last September after the new eastern span was opened to traffic and wont be completed for another three to five years.

Caltrans spokesman Andrew Gordon said that workers will soon start cutting and separating the cantilever section at the middle of the old span.

Once the cantilever is separated at its center, the contractor will begin removing steel beams, Gordon said.

The spans two 412-foot-long cantilever arms are connected by a 576-foot-long suspended span and Caltrans originally planned to take down one arm at a time, he said.

But Gordon said Caltrans now plans to take both arms down at the same time in order to save time so that the demolition work can get back on schedule.

He said it will cost an extra $12.67 million to hire more workers to work on both sections at the same time but Caltrans hopes that that money could be recouped in the long term by shortening the schedule for the demolition work.

Caltrans chief bridge engineer Brian Maroney said that in a month people will notice a gap in the cantilever section because some panels will be gone.

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Demolition Of Old Bay Bridge Section To Cost An Extra $12.6 Million