The Countdown

Web Extras: Marketplace, Bridal, Headlines by Email, Postcards

The Countdown

Saturday, February 10, 2001

Best Viewing

Favored vantage points for the implosion are along Grandview Avenue or restaurants on Mount Washington. The West End overlook in Elliott also offers a good view. Other suggestions are the parking lots at Station Square around the I.C. Light Amphitheater, Point State Park, the top floors of Downtown skyscrapers, and some sections of the North Side, such as Fineview.

The Countdown

The 8 a.m. implosion will follow a NASA-like countdown. Here is the preliminary timeline, with "D" standing for detonation

D minus 3 hours -- Begin setting seismographs.

D minus 60 minutes -- Pittsburgh police close roads and restrict water and air travel to establish a safety zone.

D minus 45 minutes -- Lines run to blasting machine.

D minus 15 minutes -- State police close ramps leading to For Duquesne Bridge.

D minus 10 minutes -- Siren sounds 10 minute warning.

D minus 2 minutes -- Siren sounds two minute warning, blasting machine hooked up.

D minus 30 seconds -- Blasting machine is warmed up.

D minus 10 seconds -- Second-by-second countdown begins, concluding with an audible command of "Fire"*

As soon after 8 a.m. as crowd control and safety permits - The plunger is depressed to detonate a single blasting cap, which will trigger the initiating sequence and set off the structural charges.

* As a safety precaution, the command can be stopped right up to the last second. If the sequence is stopped, the countdown will be reset at one minute.

Final Check

D plus 1 minute -- Safety inspection of debris begins; PennDOT starts inspection of freeway ramps; post-implosion inspection of adjacent properties for broken windows or structural damage.

D plus 10 minutes -- Safety inspection of debris complete. PennDOT completes inspection of ramps and police release interstate traffic. CDI gives "All Clear" and dust cleaning and debris removal begins.

Debris Removal

Earthwatch Waste Systems, a division of Waste Management Inc., will truck away the debris.

Concrete debris.

120,000 tons, or 90,000 cubic yards of concrete.

Some of the concrete will be crushed on site to be recycled as fill for the new riverfront park.

Most of it will be trucked to Ohio for disposal at the Valley Landfill and Lisbon Landfill.

Trucking the debris. At the height of re-moval, 40 to 50 trucks may be on the road at any given time. Each truck can haul 12 to 21 cubic yards, so the total number of truck trips will be about 7,500.

Scrapping the steel. The 8,000 tons of structual steel and rebar will be hauled to scrap dealers and put through shredders to then be recycled for use in future structures.

Making way for a new street. A 120-foot-wide right of way for the General Robinson Street Extension will be the area cleared first.