A computationally efficient implementation of the progressive edge-growth algorithm is presented. This implementation uses an array of red-black (RB) trees to manage the layered structure of check nodes and adopts a new strategy to expand the Tanner graph. The complexity analysis and the simulation results show that the proposed approach reduces the computational effort effectively. In constructing a low-density parity check code with a length of $10^4$, the RB-tree-array-based implementation takes no more 10% of the time required by the original method.