Demolition Contractors: A & R Demolition of Del Valle, TX and Dykon of Tulsa, OK
General Contractor: Weir Brothers of Irving, TX
Supporting Companies: Protec Documentation Services; Flametech
Demolition Project Overview
The team of the Reveile family from A & R Demolition and Jim Redyke from Dykon completed one of the most challenging implosions in recent memory, successfully bringing down a sports stadium in front of 20,000 people and a national television audience without a hitch.
Demolition Project
When Jerry Jones moved the Dallas Cowboys into the new Cowboys Stadium in nearby Arlington, the City of Irving decided that the land where Texas Stadium stood would be more valuable than the building and opted to demolish the structure with an eye towards attracting developers to the site.
A & R Demolition of Del Valle, TX was the successful bidder and hired fellow National Demolition Association (NDA) member Dykon from Tulsa, OK to implode the stadium.
Jim Redyke and his 8-man Dykon team worked closely with a team from A & R Demolition to drill more than 3,100 holes in the stadium superstructure and used 1,900 pounds of explosives to bring the football icon down in 38 seconds. Jim reported that he used 55 pounds of linear shaped charges at 12 separate locations to implode the Stadium, making it one of his most complex delay sequences ever.
A & R also worked with Flametech in Cedar Park, TX whose torches ensured that the implosion would be controlled in a manner to bring the roof structure and upper bowl seating to come down within the footprint of the arena.
Fellow NDA member Protec Documentation Services from Rancocas, NJ took the safety photo footage and hundreds of photographs throughout the course of the project.
Weir Brothers from Irving, TX was the General Contractor onsite. Their scope of work is the backfilling and grading of site after the demolition is complete, leaving the site ready for the City of Irving's redevelopment.
A & R demolished the lower bowl and as they moved to the next level Weir was hauling in dirt to bring the ground level. There were up to 600 loads of dirt being brought a day in order to get it level for implosion day. Additionally the stadium had asbestos removed from all the suites and other contaminated areas.
A & R Demolition had a team of close to 45 employees onsite to ensure that Texas Stadium stayed on schedule during the 5 months preparing for the implosion. Their Superintendent at the Stadium, Terry Tejada worked long hours and kept the project on schedule and A & R's crews safe.
Sponsored Demolition
Planned for early April, the implosion actually secured a sponsor. Kraft Foods paid the City of Irving $75,000 and donated $75,000 in food to a local food bank to sponsor the implosion as part of a national campaign to market their Kraft Macaroni & Cheese "Cheddar Explosion." They ran an essay contest for kids 9 to 12 years old. The winning entrant would serve as Grand Marshall for Kraft's Texas Stadium "Cheddar Explosion" and get to "push the button" that would set off Dykon's charges to bring the building down.
The winner of the Kraft campaign was 11-year old Casey Rogers who pushed the button at little after 7:00 AM on Sunday morning, April 11th setting off the time-sequenced charges.
Information from this article was first published in Demolition Magazine and is being reused with permission from the National Demolition Association.
