Pontiac Silverdome still stands after demolition attempt
PONTIAC -- The explosives went off but the dome remained standing.
A demolition of Pontiac Silverdome did not go as planned, and now workers are trying to determine the point of failure, CBS Detroit reports.
Officials said a wiring issue caused the charges on the eight main beams to fail.
"The kicker charges for the smaller beams -- the support beams in eight locations were set with cutting charges -- those didn't go off," Rick Cuppetilli, vice president of Adamo Group, told CBS Detroit. "Why? We're figuring wiring but we're going to figure it out."
Pontiac Mayor Deirdre Waterman compared the Silverdome to her city.
"We thought Pontiac was down and out but we came back, so the Silverdome is the same. They tried to bring it down -- the hard old lady is not coming down just yet. We'll figure out why and we'll make sure that that happens safely , but right now people came for the excitement -- still sharing memories. This is an iconic structure -- it's stronger and more resilient and so is Pontiac," Waterman said.
The company is in the process of checking the miles of wiring that was put in place for the project. It remains unclear when the implosion will be completed.
The implosion planned for Sunday was the first phase of demolition planned over the next 12 months.
The Silverdome opened in 1975 to the buzz of a performance by Elvis, a visit by Pope Paul II WrestleMania, a Super Bowl XVI in 1982 and was home to the Detroit Lions for several decades and the Detroit Pistons for one.
