New Haven Coliseum is gone
Jan. 20, 2007

(New Haven-WTNH) _ And in an instant it was gone. Loud bangs and puffs of smoke were followed by the rumble of falling steel and cheers of excitement as the New Haven Coliseum was imploded.

"Awesome," one boy said as the explosions brought down the house.

"It was amazing," said Ken from New Haven, who watched the implosion from nearby Tower One. "You felt the building shake as it went down."

Ben and Tori, a brother and sister from Guilford, pressed the ceremonial plungers to bring the landmark down at 7:50 a.m.

The implosion was delayed for about 20 minutes because people were on rooftops and in areas where they did not belong. Police had to get them out of the area.

The blast brought 50,000 tons of steel to the ground in a flash. Rubble flew onto streets and dust rose into the air, but the morning wind quickly blew the dust cloud out of the way.

The building came down almost in a wave from one end to the other. As soon as the dust cleared demolition crews went into the blast area to survey the site.

The mound of rubble will take months to clear away. That will be done by conventional means.

People lined up to find the best viewing areas hours before the scheduled 7:30 detonation of the explosive charges that brought the house down.

The Temple Street Garage was the official viewing area for the implosion, and people pushed to the edge of all four levels to get a good view. A band and refreshments added to the party atmosphere.

Folks also hit the city streets including Frontage Road and State Street to watch the end of this era. As they waited they shared their fond memories of the coliseum and the events they saw there.

Surface streets around the coliseum were cordoned off well ahead of the blast. The Route 34 connector running in front of the coliseum had bumper-to-bumper traffic from cars looking to get into the city.

State and police were ready to block off the highways as the time to detonation approached.

Some people parked their cars along the side of the road, but the city had a fleet of tow trucks at the ready to yank them out of the way.

There were no major concerns by the demolition crew the day before. "So far everything is on track. The only concern any of us have is weather and that's not much of an issue either," Goldblum said Friday.

Construction began on the coliseum in 1968, and it opened in 1972. The coliseum held its last event in 2002 with a professional wrestling show.