Few, if any, explosives will be used to demolish the RCA Dome next year, a state board said.

The board said a more traditional, wrecking-ball style of demolition will be used to tear down the 24-year-old dome as part of the nearly $1 billion project to build the new Lucas Oil Stadium and expand the Indiana Convention Center.

Removal of the RCA Dome's exterior utility lines will begin in January, with demolition expected to start in the spring on the home of the Indianapolis Colts, which are to begin playing in the new 63,000-seat, retractable-roof stadium next season.

The timing and method for the demolition is based on not disrupting events at the adjoining convention center, said David Frick, chairman of the Indiana Stadium and Convention Building Authority.

"The first priority of this project is to make sure the existing convention center continues to operate. That's the economic engine of this whole $1 billion project," Frick said.

The demolition, which is expected to last about five months, will move from north to south so construction can begin on the three-story convention center expansion, projected to cost $275 million.

Tom Scheele, senior vice president of Shiel Sexton Co. Inc., said conventional demolition was the best way to bring down the RCA Dome because of how close it is to the convention center and other buildings in the city's downtown.

Work to remove the stadium's fabric roof is expected to be done in the spring and summer, with removal of its seating bowl to follow, Scheele said.

"Once about two-thirds of the demolition is complete, you will see new construction and Dome demolition going on concurrently," Scheele said.

Demolition workers might use explosives on part of the dome's south side, which is away from the existing convention center, if officials determine the process will be safe and beneficial in terms of time, the board said.

The convention center construction is expected to be finished by the fall of 2010.