|
Soft Landing
Smooth Ride on Demolition of New Haven Coliseum
Extensive planning, testing, and preparation resulted in a textbook demolition of New Haven’s former civic center.
New Haven civic leaders are preparing for a new downtown development. But first, they asked construction industry experts to take down the existing tenant – the city’s Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Built in 1972 with room for more than 11,000 spectators, the arena played host to small-market professional and collegiate sporting events, as well as concerts. The 100,000-sq-ft complex stood on twenty 65-ft supercolumns over 2.5 acres.
The controlled demolition took place on Jan. 20 and produced nearly 1,400 tons of debris, using a design by New York-based Weidlinger Associates and executed by Stamford Wrecking of Trumbull, Conn. Crafted over months of testing, the plan had to account for the structure’s proximity to city streets, a congested neighborhood, and underground utility lines, some 100 years old and as close as 1 ft to the surface. Using past research on how to protect utilities from earthquakes, Weidlinger designed various temporary structures, all from recycled materials, to prevent gas leaks and interruption to telephone, Internet, and other services.
One task involved building a soil berm – and arranging 15,000 tires in layers upon it [see photo above] – to absorb vibrations and penetrating debris from a cantilevered section of the coliseum’s parking garage. The demolition, which went smoothly and caused no damage to utility lines, drew 20,000 spectators – a larger crowd than the arena ever held itself.
| The New Haven Coliseum and its garage (top to bottom): before the takedown; being prepared for the task; during the controlled demolition; and what was left. |
 |
The site will house the “Downtown Gateway Project” to expand the nearby Knights of Columbus world headquarters; relocate the Long Wharf Theatre; add a residential and retail development; and free up space for other nearby projects.
KEY PLAYERS:
Owner: City of New Haven
Engineer: Weidlinger Associates, New York
Demolition Contractor: Stamford Wrecking, Trumbull, Conn.
Structural Engineer: Spiegel Zamecnik and Shah
|
print this page
e-mail this page
