The Pontiac Silverdome in Detroit, Michigan, in the US remains standing after a planned partial demolition yesterday (Sunday) of the 80,000-capacity venue failed.
Officials had planned to take down the upper section of the stadium as part of a process to fully demolish the stadium over an expected 12-month period.
However, the first phase of the project did not go to plan as when the explosives were detonated, seemingly nothing happened to the structure, with only a few small puffs of smoke visible.
Adamo, the demolition company that is overseeing the first phase of the project, said 10 per cent of the charges failed to detonate. However, Kevin Lindke, who is serving as project superintendent, told Michigan Live that the venue should still fall, but was unable to say when this would exactly happen.
“At some point, gravity is going to take over, one of these sections is going to go and it’s going to rip everything with it,” Lindke said. “Everything is going to come down.
“If it doesn’t go, we’ll come back and we’ll either reload it or we’ll hook some cables and we’ll pull it down.”
Located 30 miles outside of Detroit, the Pontiac Silverdome is the former home of NFL American football team the Detroit Lions and hosted the NFL’s Super Bowl XVI in 1982, but has sat empty for around 10 years.
The venue was been used to host a number of other major sporting and live entertainment events, including several matches during the 1994 Fifa World Cup national football team tournament that took place in the US.
To view a video of the failed partial demolition effort on the BBC website, click here.
Image: Ken Lund
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