Latrobe engineers question how much garage work is needed
Latrobe city engineers said a report that only 50 percent of concrete slabs in a shuttered parking garage need to be replaced is not 100 percent accurate.
Pittsburgh-based Carl Walker Construction last month submitted a report to city officials that recommended replacing half the concrete in the parking garage in a project to reopen it.
The 40-year-old garage, between Ligonier and Jefferson streets, was closed July 2 after a 9- by 5-foot section collapsed, causing the loss of 289 parking spaces.
Engineer Dan Schmitt of Latrobe-based Gibson-Thomas Engineering, the city's engineers, has recommended replacing all of the concrete in the garage.
The full revamp, including the repair of a broken elevator, would cost about $3.5 million, Schmitt said, and would be good for about 40 years.
That compares to $7 million to demolish the garage and build a new one.
Whatever decision is made, parking authority Executive Director Marty Molina said, nothing can be done until funding has been secured.
Starting in December, Carl Walker Construction performed a series of tests on the concrete in the garage to determine the amount of deterioration in the slabs. Small samples were tested for chloride content to assess the level of corrosion. Chain-drag tests, sound tests in which a chain is dragged to test the concrete's integrity, were performed.
The report stated that approximately 46,000 square feet of concrete in the 88,000-square-foot garage were damaged.
"It is apparent from the test results that the deck slabs can be partially replaced in order to return the garage to full service," the Walker report stated. "... The 50 percent of sound concrete slabs have chloride content that is at or less than the 1-percent threshold" set by the American Concrete Institute.
The report, which cost $6,800, recommended replacing half of the concrete decks, reinforcing steel beams and performing other repairs.
"The combination of partial deck replacement and full deck coating will take care of all of the major garage repairs for the next 10 years," the report stated. "The service life of the garage can be extended into the foreseeable future (25 years) by routine maintenance on a yearly basis."
Schmitt told council this month that he disagrees with the assessment.
"Every sample ... indicated some deterioration," the engineer said. "Let's say you're trying to protect one of the good decks that has some bad steel. You are going to have to remove some good concrete to get to bad steel. So now instead of removing 50 percent of the concrete, we're at 60 (percent).
"This also isn't a matter of saw cutting the concrete off; we would have to jackhammer it. Even though it may be good concrete, the jackhammer can ruin the existing concrete," Schmitt said. "Now you're getting to even higher numbers, and you have to ask, 'How much are we even going to be able to keep?'"
Schmitt suggested replacing all of the concrete and repairing the steel beams, most of which are in good condition.
In November, state officials approved a $1.75 million grant toward the garage project, but the money was never released under the former administration of Gov. Ed Rendell.
"We really don't know if and when we will get that money ... , " Molina said. "We've got a long way to go yet."
