March 27, 2000

The Kingdome's last stand

Seattle's skyline was altered dramatically Sunday morning when the Kingdome was brought down in 16.8 seconds in an implosion the experts said was flawless.

It took just 16.8 seconds to reduce what was the world's largest concrete dome to a pile of rubble that will take upwards of four months to clear away.

Now crews from Aman Environmental Construction will swing into action to clear away the tons of rubble to make way for a new $400 million professional football and soccer stadium. The stadium will be the home of the Seahawks, Seattle's professional football team, and is scheduled to open in 2002.

Despite the months of planning that went into the spectacularly dusty demolition of the 24-year-old structure that was the world's largest concrete dome, one official of First & Goal conceded he was worried. So many things might have gone wrong, explained Bob Collier, vice president and senior project manager of First & Goal, which Seahawk owner Paul Allen formed to manage his interest in the development of the new stadium.

It was an incredibly complex planning effort. At least 20 agencies were involved. Even the U.S. Coast Guard was called upon to police Elliott Bay, which was dotted by hundreds of boats.

About 45 minutes before the blast, Fire Department spokeswoman Sheila Strehle announced: "There are no show stoppers and no problems to report." She added authorities were relieved that most citizens seemed to have heeded officials' pleas to stay away from downtown and watch the blast on television.

Everything continued like clockwork. Jim Santuro counted down the seconds before Thom Doud and Raymond Zukowski hit the two detonation buttons. The men work for Controlled Demolition of Maryland. A jolting vibration swept over the neighborhood and, poof, it was over.

First & Goal's Senior Project Manager Bob Collier celebrates the success of the implosion with a cigar.

"There was so much dust that what was going through my mind was, `I hope it's all landed where it's supposed to,'" Collier said.

Initial reports indicated it was a picture-perfect implosion. "That's why I lit this up," Collier said, holding up a Macanudo cigar.

Officials of the job's two main contractors, Turner Construction and Controlled Demolition, declared victory.

"I think I know now how (coach) Mike Holmgren and the Seahawks will feel when they win the Super Bowl," said Turner Vice President Tom Gerlach. He called it "a textbook implosion" and added that very little debris fell outside the Kingdome footprint. "Basically, everything went exactly as we planned."

Some bits of debris landed on the roof of the new exhibition hall just south of the Kingdome, and there were reports of a couple broken windows. Some of the cracked windows were in a Turner construction trailer and in a nearby Pioneer Square building which, ironically, Turner is renovating as a separate project. But Gerlach said before the big blast that he anticipated some windows would break.

See the video To see a time-lapse video of the demolition and more photos, click here.

Mark Loizeaux, president of Controlled Demolition, said he was not surprised by the outcome. He explained that he is by nature, not a worrier. Yet he seemed relieved when he announced after the blast that, technically, his company's job was done.

It took several minutes for the dust to clear, Once it did the view of the downtown skyline was remarkable. For 24 years what had been obliterated by the Kingdome was now in focus under sunny skies.