Georgia Dome imploded after 25 years in service

Nearly 5,000pounds of explosives were used Monday morning to flatten the American sports venue that saw the 1996Olympics, two Super Bowls, and three Final Fours.

ATLANTA » One of the nation’s largest domed stadiums collapsed Monday into a pile of jagged concrete and a vast cloud of smoke in a scheduled implosion in downtown Atlanta.

Nearly 5,000 pounds (2,270 kilograms) of explosives were used to blast the Georgia Dome in Atlanta to smithereens at 7:30 a.m. Onlookers gathered at skyscrapers’ windows, at a restaurant atop the city’s tallest hotel, in parking lots and on nearby streets to watch the destruction of the landmark stadium.

The dome opened in 1992, and it was flattened in just about 15 seconds. The Georgia World Congress Center Authority, which includes the 71,250-seat dome, had said it would take 12 seconds for the explosives to go off plus another 3 seconds for sections of grandstands to hit the ground.

The explosives went off in a spiral around the stadium as it collapsed on itself. A vast debris cloud hovered over the site before slowly drifting across downtown.

The dome has been replaced by the $1.6 billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium next door.

A 5-story tall industrial strength curtain between the two stadiums had been erected to protect the new venue from damage, officials said. Only 83 feet (25 meters) — less than 30 yards — separated the two venues. The Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta’s main convention center, is also just feet away.

Protecting both of those structures was “one of the unique challenges” of Monday’s blast, said Morgan Smith-Williams, a spokeswoman for the Georgia World Congress Center Authority, which includes the dome as well as the new stadium.

“There was no damage to Mercedes-Benz Stadium or the Georgia World Congress Center,” she said Monday morning, after a post-blast briefing from the Detroit- based Adamo Group that’s demolishing the dome.

The new stadiumi s home to the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and Major League Soccer’s Atlanta United.

In addition to the retractable roof that opens like a camera lens, Mercedes-Benz Stadium boasts a 1,100-foot (335-meter) “halo board” video display and a giant steel sculpture of a falcon with its 70-foot (21-meter) wingspan at one of the main entrances.

Several streets and parts of Atlanta’s transit system were closed to accommodate the blast and specta- tors

The idea for the Georgia Dome dated to the mid1980s, when civic leaders recommended a domed football stadium adjoining the city’s largest convention center, the Georgia World Congress Center. It cost $214 million.

The dome was the site of high school football state championships, Peach Bowls, SEC championship games, two Super Bowls, 1996 Olympic basketball, three Final Four NCAA basketball tournaments, concerts, pro wrestling, and other events.

CURTIS COMPTON — ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION VIA AP The Georgia Dome is destroyed in a scheduled implosion Monday in Atlanta. The dome was not only the former home of the Atlanta Falcons but also the site of two Super Bowls, 1996Olympic Games events and NCAA basketball tournaments among other major...