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Final Gun for Texas Stadium
 

Sunday used to be game day at Texas Stadium in Irving, Texas, but on Sunday, April 11, 2010, it was “game over” for the 40-year-old stadium.

According to a news release from the City of Irving, more than 20,000 spectators watched that morning as the former home of the Dallas Cowboys was quickly turned into a pile of recyclable rubble by Dykon Explosive Demolition Corp., Tulsa, Okla.

The project’s timetable calls for the site to be cleared by the end of July and calls for some 95 percent of the concrete to be recycled and used in surrounding highway projects. The structural steel will be harvested and sold as scrap metal.
Several months went into preparing Texas Stadium for implosion, according to the City of Irving. Ultimately, more than 2,715 pounds of explosives were used to bring the stadium to the ground. After the a push of a button by an 11-year-old essay contest winner, it took less than 30 sections for Texas Stadium’s roof to collapse from southwest to northeast, with the inside falling first.

Texas Stadium was the home of the Dallas Cowboys from 1971 until the team’s last game there on December 20, 2008. On hand to watch the implosion were Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, former Cowboy Randy White and ESPN sportscaster Chris Berman. 

 The City of Irving imploded the stadium to redevelop the 80-acre site, along with the adjacent 388 acres owned in parcels by the University of Dallas and Southwest Premiere Properties. Initially, the site will be used by the Texas Department of Transportation as a staging area for a project that will bring the Dallas Area Rapid Transit line from downtown Dallas through Irving and on to DFW International Airport.

 The City of Irving plans to redevelop the site. “Texas Stadium has been an excellent contribution to our community in many ways and for many years,” remarked Irving Mayor Herbert Gears.

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A Few Plus Signs Emerge
 

After a three-year span where most monthly new construction figures have been below their year-ago and often previous month’s levels, some plus signs have begun appearing in the statistical columns.

February in particular showed some signs of a slight rebound taking place, with new construction starts that month climbing 5 percent from the previous month, according to McGraw-Hill Construction, Bedford, Mass.

Part of the lift was provided by the public works sector, spurring a slight gain in infrastructure-related project spending compared to one year ago. Residential building also showed improvement in February, but non-residential building slipped back after improvement in January. For the first two months of 2010, total construction on an unadjusted basis came in at $57.2 billion, essentially the same amount as reported during the first two months of 2009.

“The pattern shown during February is what’s expected for 2010 as a whole – more public works construction, improved activity for residential building, but further weakness for non-residential building,” says Robert A. Murray, vice president of economic affairs for McGraw-Hill Construction. “The positives for housing include low mortgage rates. For non-residential building, however, the tough environment for project financing remains a substantial constraint.”

Infrastructure contract values in February jumped 19 percent, according to McGraw-Hill.