43
Repairs to YSU parking deck should be finished in time for fall classes
Photo
William D Lewis The Vindicator Work continues on the .YSU parking deck. Plans are for the renovation of the 1971 structure to be finished in time for Fall semester opening Aug 29.
Photo
Danny O’Connell, director of support services at Youngstown State University, left, and Ron Williams of Suburban Construction of Cleveland look over the work Monday at the parking deck on Lincoln Avenue on campus. The project is on schedule.
Photo
Work continues on the Youngstown State University parking deck on Lincoln Avenue. Plans are for renovation of the 1971 structure to be finished in time for the start of fall classes Aug. 29.
By Denise Dick
Youngstown
The project to repair the M2 parking deck on Lincoln Avenue at Youngstown State University remains on track to be completed in time for the start of classes next month.
The deck closed last April for work to begin on the first phase of the $4.5 million total project. The first phase is about $2.1 million.
That phase is scheduled for completion Aug. 23, in time for the deck to reopen for the start of fall classes Aug. 29, and Danny O’Connell, director of support services, said it’s proceeding on schedule.
“I don’t have a concern and the reason I don’t have a concern is our contingency plan is solid,” he said.
That plan calls for parking at the Covelli Centre with shuttle buses to transport students between the center and campus if the deck isn’t finished.
Workers from Suburban Construction of Cleveland, the general contractor, work Saturdays and 24 hours per day through the week.
Ron Williams, project manager, said more than 50 workers were on the job Monday morning.
Work involves repairing the entrance and exit ramps on the deck’s east and west sides, resealing the roof and sealing the remainder of the structure to prevent water infiltration. Supports that hold the deck in place also are being replaced.
The roof is being water-proofed, as that’s what caused most of the damage to the structure.
“Water would get in there in the late fall, and then it would freeze,” O’Connell said.
He said that much of the concrete already has been poured for the east and west ramps, and he’s hopeful that more will be poured this week. The beams that ran across the top of each of the ramps are being replaced with beams that run lengthwise, giving a less closed-in feeling to those using the ramps, he said.
Change orders on the project so far — for some plumbing and electrical and other work — have totaled about $140,000, well within the project’s 10 percent contingency allotment.
The project’s second phase, estimated at about $1 million, involves more cosmetic work: new lighting, painting and improvements to stairwells and railings.
Work also is on schedule on the roughly $1.2 million project to build a new, 126-space surface lot along Fifth Avenue, next to the Beeghly College of Education, and add 160 spaces to the M-26 lot behind Smith Hall on the west side of Fifth Avenue. Kirila Contractors of Brookfield is the contractor for that project.