On Thursday Sept. 2 the north leaf of the South Park Bridge was removed under significantly better weather conditions than the first one cut and placed on a barge Aug. 31. See our previous coverage including video here.

With blue skies and warmer weather General Construction made the final cuts to the East bascule leaf of the South Park bridge thereby ending its nearly 80 year tenure of access to South Park.

The removal went smoothly and was faster than the west bascule leaf. This was due in part to the learning curve established during Tuesday's separation of the West leaf. Workers had a more refined plan of the order in which to cut the steel supports that hold the leaf in place. The final cut was made at 3:05 pm.

The massive structure was lowered onto the waiting barge which still held the section that was removed two days before. The bascules, which are the castle like structures that held the bridge leafs, are still in place. No schedule has been set by King County as to when their demolition will take place. However these will not come down as easily as the bridge leaves and could take several weeks per side to be demolished.

There are still a handful of wooden structures in South Park that also have yet to be torn down.

This is merely the beginning of a long process culminating in a new South Park bridge.

Now the task ahead is the replacement for the span. In June the effort got a boost from the State of Washington and the City of Seattle with a commitment of $20 million and $15 million respectively. An additional $140 million will be sought from the Federal Government to complete the project.