LINCOLN — The cost will be “significant” to remedy the problems caused by faulty rebar used in the Lincoln sports arena now under construction, officials said Thursday.
However, taxpayers won’t have to pay the bill. The cost most likely will be paid by the Omaha steel fabrication company whose mistake is believed to have caused the problem, said John Wood, senior vice president of Mortenson Construction.
Matt Farber, a structural engineer with DLR Group, said that 26 of 52 piling caps in the project will require reinforcement to compensate for weakened rebar used in the original construction.
Piling caps are thick slabs of concrete that rest atop 80-foot-deep pilings that extend to bedrock below the building site. The piling caps eventually will support the building’s weight.
Most of the piling caps had been completed when the problems with reinforcing steel rods, or rebar, were discovered. Construction was halted after two pieces unexpectedly broke.
Wood said laboratory tests showed the breakage occurred because the steel had been bent to the wrong degree by the fabricator, Drake-Williams Steel Inc. of Omaha. The problem affected steel pieces that had been bent into “hooks” to connect vertical support columns with the horizontal floor slabs above them.
“The material itself was fine,” Wood said.
Although construction was halted for about a week while the problem was investigated, Wood said the arena will be completed as scheduled in September 2013. He said additional workers will be hired to reinforce the piling caps while work continues on the rest of the building.
Contact the writer:
402-473-9581, leslie.reed@owh.com
Although the cost of the repairs to the Pinnacle Bank Arena will be "significant," the bill will not be paid by taxpayers, said John Wood, senior vice president of Mortenson Construction.
It most likely will be born by the Omaha steel fabrication company whose mistake is believed to have resulted in the rebar problem.
Piling caps are thick slabs of concrete that rest atop 80-foot-deep pilings that extend down to bedrock below the arena site. They eventually will support the weight of the building.
Many of the piling caps were already built before the problems with the reinforcing steel were discovered in late December. Several bars had snapped during construction.
Wood said that the problem resulted from the bars being bent to the wrong angle in the fabrication shop.
He said additional workers are being deployed to add reinforcing collars to 26 piling caps. The repairs are not expected to delay the project's anticipated completion in September 2013.
Contact the writer:
402-473-9581, leslie.reed@owh.com
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