City Engineer reveals new details of City Hall demolition plan

More details emerged Tuesday about the upcoming demolition of City Hall. The implosion is scheduled for two weeks from Sunday.

Perhaps the most important thing announced Tuesday was the perimeter, or exclusion zone, around the City Hall building that will be set up hours before the implosion.

City officials told members of City Council the entire demolition will take only eight seconds from the time the first blast goes off.

The exclusion zone will be blocked off between 6 and 8 a.m. Sunday, April 14, well before the scheduled 9 a.m. implosion.

Those who live within that area will not be asked to leave their apartments or homes. Officials have urged people to close their windows and turn off the air conditioners.

Ballpark project engineer Alan Shubert said streets around the exclusion zone could be reopened within a matter of minutes following the implosion.

Shubert said crews will wait until just before the demolition to close interstate 10 and the Bataan Memorial Trainway, which runs right next to City Hall.

City Manager Joyce Wilson said that with the Asarco smokestacks scheduled to come down the day before, it should be quite a weekend for El Pasoans.

“I don’t think this community has had these kinds of demolitions, so that weekend is going to be pretty amazing,” said Wilson.

Shubert said the public can watch from anywhere outside the exclusion zone, which consists of at least a 500-foot radius around the building.