LINCOLN SQUARE — Wile E. Coyote set a pretty high bar.
The Looney Tunes character's elaborate traps for the Road Runner — from the piles of ACME dynamite to the dramatically lit fuses to the big ka-boom — were never less than spectacular, even if they always backfired.
By comparison, here's what a real-life explosion looks and sounds like.
The detonations taking place during construction of the Albany Park Storm Water Diversion Tunnel are nothing like what's shown on the small or big screen — and that's precisely the point.
Regular explosions are needed to blast through limestone bedrock to carve out the intake and outlet shafts for the tunnel, which will run for a mile under Foster Avenue, 150 feet below ground.
If no one notices, then all has gone according to plan.
On Monday, DNAinfo.com witnessed the most recent controlled explosion at the project's outlet shaft, which is located at Foster Avenue and the River.
The shaft, a gaping 40 feet wide, is already 80 to 90 feet deep, enough of a drop to cause a visitor's stomach to lurch when peering over the edge.
Crew members are lowered via cage to drill holes, eight feet deep, for the explosive charges.
Modern hydraulic drills are so quiet, "I don't even know if it's on," said Paul Lauricella, on-site safety manager for Kenny Construction.
Once the explosives are in place and workers are brought to the surface, a steel shaft cover is placed over the hole, topped with steel blast mats so heavy they need to be lifted and maneuvered with a crane.
"It's the life force of the job," Sonny Jaramilla, the tunnel's on-site project manager for the engineering firm Parsons Brinckerhoff, said of the crane.
The shaft cover and blast mats keep any debris from shooting out of the hole, though as crews bore deeper and deeper, that becomes less of a concern, according to David Handwerk, a tunneling engineer on the project.
Many of the safety measures in place during blasts — stopping traffic on Foster Avenue, warning neighbors — are more to keep people from being startled, Handwerk said.
But just in case, in the moments prior to detonation an air horn warns worker of the impending explosion, and they gather in a metal shed a good distance from the hole.
A button is pushed and then, well, not exactly ka-boom. More like a deep, low rumble and a barely-there cloud of dust instead of a fireball.
As one member of the construction crew described it: Two days of work for five seconds of excitement.
The shaft at Foster Avenue and the River is already 80 to 90 feet deep. [All photos DNAinfo/Patty Wetli]
Steel blast mats cover the shaft hole during detonations. It takes about a half-hour to position the mats, which are so heavy, they need to be lifted and maneuvered via crane.
If only this wire were labeled "Acme."
This is what a detonator looks like.
After each blast, the pulverized limestone is hoisted out of the shaft, which is then reinforced before the next explosion cycle begins. This pile is the debris from a single blast.
