The Intel building will be imploded on Sunday, and some say when it falls it will carry with it the last vestiges of the economic bust that decimated Austin's economy several years ago.

KVUE News

"I think that it's been a kind of a black mark on the downtown and the Austin economy, and now we're going to see that basically be pushed aside," said Kent Collins, head of the Downtown Austin Alliance.

Intel abandoned the project in 2001, when the bottom fell out of the high-tech industry. The shell is being imploded to make way for a new $63 million federal courthouse just as a real estate boom in downtown is hitting its stride.

"It's kind of a sign that downtown is really coming back when the Intel building is being imploded," Collins says.

The implosion is set for 7 a.m. Saturday, and should take about 15 seconds. It will take crews about two months to remove the 20,000 tons of rubble that will be created by the implosion.

The demolition will be caused by 600 blasts from 567 pounds of explosives that will be placed on strategically selected columns within the building. Each column will be wrapped in geo-textile, and then in steel mesh to minimize the number of projectiles caused by the implosion.

Public viewing will be limited, but will be allowed along 3rd, 4th and 5th streets between Guadalupe and Lavaca, and on the north side of 6th Street between Lavaca and Nueces.

A nine-block area around the Intel building will be closed to traffic beginning at 5 a.m. Sunday and should re-open by noon.

A test implosion of a single column will take place between 7 and 9 a.m. Saturday, but traffic should be stopped for less than a minute.