Kennywood Expanding With Launched Roller Coaster For 2010 Season

West Mifflin, PA — Kennywood announced plans to build a state-of-the-art launched roller coaster for the 2010 season. The new addition will be the seventh roller coaster at the historic Pittsburgh amusement park.

Maryland based Premier Rides has been contracted to design and build the state of the ride that will be unlike any other roller coaster at Kennywood. Three of the Kennywood's roller coasters are wooden ones that date back as far as 1921.

"This roller coaster will provide a thrilling new experience for coaster lovers at Kennywood," explains Kennywood General Manager, Jerome Gibas.

The unnamed ride will be a first for Kennywood and feature a thrilling zero to 50 mile per hour launch in just three seconds. The two-car trains will then ascend a nine-story vertical tower before plunging down the opposite side again at 90-degrees.

The 2,100-foot layout includes three inversions, including an inverted top hat element and barrel roll. Additional elements include a second vertical free-fall, an overbanked fan curve and several wave turns.

In total Kennywood says the roller coaster will last approximately 65 seconds.

Premier Rides design incorporates state-of-the-art linear synchronous motors (LSMs) to launch the 12-passenger trains to 50 miles-per-hour.

"The use of LSM launch technology will allow riders to blast from 0 to 50mph in three seconds and offers our first roller coaster with inversions since the Steel Phantom," said Gibas.

Premier Rides has 13-years of experience in designing launched roller coasters. In 1996 the company introduced the world's first linear induction motor catapult coasters at Kings Island and Kings Dominion.

The new roller coaster will replace the existing Turnpike ride that will be temporarily retired on August 16. The park plans to relocate the Turnpike, which has been operating at Kennywood since 1966, to a new location in the near future.

Kennywood hopes to have the new roller coaster ready to debut in May 2010. In the coming weeks the park will announce an official name and unveil the logo for the ride.

To see video of the new roller coaster visit the Kennywood New For 2010 announcement site.

See related: Kennywood, www.kennywood.com