Tons of dirt for Binghamton demolition project

**James** · #1 (**permalink**) 01-30-2007, 08:49 AM

It's not everyday you see a giant mound of dirt in the middle of busy city street.
But that's what they've got in downtown Binghamton, where hundreds of tons of dirt have been dumped on the busiest street through the city's business district.

It's going to be used as a base for a big piece of demolition machinery brought to Binghamton from West Virginia. The unit is needed for what officials concede will be a difficult, precision demolition job.

Crews are supposed to tear down part of a seven-story, 115-year-old structure that partially collapsed three weeks ago -- without also taking down an attached building that's in poor shape due to years of neglect.

The huge earthen structure that's being used as a base for the machinery is about 15 feet high, filling the entire width of the street.

Mandarin Enterprises · #2 (**permalink**) 01-30-2007, 01:01 PM

Do you have pics or know what kind of machine it is?

NukeWorker · #3 (**permalink**) 01-30-2007, 02:09 PM

Here are some pics:

http://www.binghamtonpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage

Look on the right side of the page and click on "Photo Galleries"

demobud · #4 (**permalink**) 01-30-2007, 04:52 PM

Was the dirt really necessary or was there a surface that needed protection?

NukeWorker · #5 (**permalink**) 01-30-2007, 06:49 PM

The layer of dirt was 15' high.

NukeWorker · #6 (**permalink**) 01-31-2007, 06:55 AM

I read in the paper this morning that he intends to use the dirt to backfill the site.

demobud · #7 (**permalink**) 01-31-2007, 04:40 PM

That explains it then. I figured he was trying to gain some height as well. Never hurts to have a little boost.

Wolf · #8 (**permalink**) 01-31-2007, 05:45 PM

So how did the building collapse? Quite an intricate operation it seems. Who is doing the work?

NukeWorker · #9 (**permalink**) 01-31-2007, 08:57 PM

Yes, but you never want to have to handle material on a demo site more than once (maybe twice). That's what kills your profits.

demobud · #10 (**permalink**) 02-01-2007, 01:16 PM

You've got a point there, especially when you walk a machine of that size all over the pile thus compacting it even more.