Demolition crews don’t like surprises. Especially not when they involve parts of a stadium falling down out of sequence.
The Star Tribune reports that’s why the crews tearing down the Metrodome have paused their work while investigators reconstruct what happened. The general contractor, Mortenson Construction, tells the newspaper no one was injured and all the debris that fell was contained within a safety zone.
A subcontractor’s crew was working on bringing down a beam in the northeastern corner of the stadium, when an adjacent section came down unexpectedly, the Star Tribune says.
Demolition of the 32-year-old stadium has been moving forward quickly. Last week a wrecking ball began knocking down the walls, WCCO reported.
That followed an explosion earlier this month that took down the last of the roof supports after the Dome itself was deflated.
Mortenson tells the Star Tribune it’s too early to know when demolition at the site will resume but says later this week is a possibility.
The timeline calls for the Metrodome to be gone in April so construction of a new stadium for the Vikings can begin on that downtown Minneapolis site. The Vikings plan to play two seasons at the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium until their new home is ready in late in the summer of 2016.
