Kennywood’s Steel Curtain rolls closer to completion

It’s all downhill from here for finishing the Steel Curtain, the record-setting roller coaster at Kennywood Park in West Mifflin.

Last Friday, the final piece of tubular track was installed to complete the loop on the coaster, which will have the most inversions — nine — of any North American coaster, including the world’s tallest inversion at 197 feet, and be Pennsylvania’s tallest coaster at 220 feet.

The last piece of track is where riders will turn upside down on that highest inversion. If you’re afraid of heights, don’t watch the video Kennywood posted on YouTube.

There’s now 4,000 feet of contiguous track, confirmed Kennywood spokesman Nick Paradise. “Erection is complete. Everything is up in place. Now it’s just that final tightening and torquing” of bolts, including for a final crossbar.

The cars are on the track, and test dummies are in the cars, so at some point soon, they’ll begin testing the ride.

Doing 1,000 test runs is “a benchmark to hit,” Mr. Paradise said, but the park may run more — some with full loads, some with partial loads, covering a range of variables to ensure a quality and safe experience.

“From there it’s a severalweek process,” he said. He realizes that some coaster enthusiasts are very impatient to be able to ride the ride, but safety remains paramount.

In the meantime, for everything you want to know about the forthcoming roller coaster, check out the Post-Gazette’s new interactive at www.post-gazette.com.