Orchard Park, N.Y. (WBEN) - It was one single blast that was barely visible, but could be felt from a distance away.
Construction crews on site of the new Buffalo Bills stadium in Orchard Park conducted a test blast on Friday, which will be the first of several blasts for the project taking place over the next five weeks.
"They did their warnings and stuff, and you could definitely feel the Earth shake underneath," said Eric "The Hammer" Matwijow, resident and owner of "Hammer's Lot" along Abbott Road. "There was a little vibration, little rumble. Nothing that would knock you off your feet or anything like that, but you definitely could tell there was an explosion. Never been in an earthquake, but I would imagine it probably feels somewhat like that."
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The Town of Orchard Park received notification on Wednesday from Gilbane | Turner, the construction management company for the new stadium, that the series of scheduled blasts was set to begin. According to the town board, the Bills have been in communication with the property owners around the blasting site for, at least, four-to-six weeks.
"We've been getting letters from the Bills. In the beginning, it was almost every week talking about the process and stuff that was happening," Matwijow said. "There was a company that came around and was taking pictures and stuff, just in case there was any damage due to the explosions and stuff. Basically even doing your driveway and the sidewalks, around the windows, foundation, any existing cracks. I mean, they took a lot of pictures on every building."
For Friday's test blast, as a precaution, traffic was halted between along Abbott Road between Big Tree Road and Southwestern Boulevard. There were no known issues that took place with the blast, and traffic will remain open along that route as they commence this phase of construction.
According to the Orchard Park Town Board, crews will look to blast about three times a week over the next five weeks. They will attempt to do the blasting at around the same time every single day to remind residents when they're taking place, though there's still some back-and-forth on two different times during the day they're considering.
There will be no blasts taking place on Saturdays over the next five weeks.
While Friday's blast was a test of what's to come over the next several weeks, Matwijow says he doesn't know what kind of effects a series of blasts in the process may have on his house, or any other residence in the neighborhood.
"My house was built in 1932, I do have some cracks in it. I realize it's gonna happen. I don't know," he said. "I mean, we could feel the vibrations as we stood here, and the blast seemed to be on the Southwest side of the existing stadium, but it was more where there's a lot more ground cover. When you get into the pit area, maybe that might vibrate more? I really don't know. So we've got the pictures and stuff, and if there's any problems, we'll know."