Building demolition closes streets

5/12/2011
ROBERTA REDFERN
BLADE STAFF WRITER

Parts of eight East Toledo streets, including a stretch of Front Street, will be closed Friday morning during demolition of a boiler building at the former Toledo Edison Acme Generating Station, city officials announced.

Starting at 8 a.m., Front will be closed between East Broadway and Dearborn Avenue. No detour route will be posted. Motorists should plan to use Starr Avenue, Ravine Parkway, or Summit Street as alternate routes. Front is expected to reopen around noon.

Other streets to be closed include Worthington, Licking, Steel, and Carbon streets and Maryland and Elgin avenues, all between Front and Mott streets, and all of Riverside Drive.

Boiler Building No. 16 at the former power plant is to be demolished by implosion as part of on-going environmental cleanup at the site. The actual demolition is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m., with the precise schedule dependent on nearby Maumee River traffic.

People in nearby neighborhoods can expect to hear explosions as the structure is collapsed into itself. The U.S. Coast Guard, Toledo firefighters and police, and Toledo Division of Environmental Services personnel will oversee the demolition.