Tiger Task

LSU stadium project races to completion despite Katrina

By Martin Schwartz

The $60 million replacement of LSU's Tiger Stadium west upper deck in Baton Rouge escaped Hurricane Katrina with only minimal damage and continued on course toward substantial completion in September.

Justin Cain, project manager with Yates Construction's Building Division, said, "We had some temporary walls that had some sheet rock damage and we lost several days because of manpower issues. A lot of our guys were based in New Orleans and surrounding areas. That hindered our production.

"But we got most of our guys back within a few days and for the most part we're back up and running," he added. "Every day got better."

Delivery delays also plagued the job after the hurricane, forcing the contractor to "re-prioritize certain things."

advertisement

Despite delays, Cain expected to have all the seats in place by the Tigers' first home football game Sept. 24 and to meet the final completion deadline of March 2006. This has been largely accomplished by working its crew two 10- to 12-hours shifts, seven days a week.

"They moved the first home game back a couple of weeks, so that gave us an opportunity to get a lot more glass in that we originally though on the east wall, as well as more walls, ceiling grids and lights," he added.

Yates' 400-man crew will now concentrated on interior finishes, including glasswork, millwork and painting.

"Basically, we've just floated the walls and put primer on them," Cain said.

LSU Tiger Athletic Foundation project manager Ralph Stogner said the new west upper deck is a wider and taller concrete structure with about 500 new seats, a club level and state-of-the-art press box. About 20,000 cu. yds. of high-strength, 6,000-psi concrete was placed for the new deck.

"This is a very high profile project with some very time-sensitive issues," said Jim McArthur, a construction manager with general contractor Yates Construction of Philadephia, Miss. "We ramped up to get construction up to a certain level, then geared down during the football season."

In 2004, any week preceding a home game concluded with an intensive effort to fan-proof the site to allow access to all major entrances to the stadium. The contractor also fenced off the site perimeter.

None of the demolition began until November 2004, following the last home game. Two weeks prior to the last game, Deep South Crane of Baton Rouge delivered a 1,500-ton lattice boom crane to the site on 56 trucks in preparation for the demolition of the mammoth upper deck.

Louisiana Chemical Dismantling of Kenner removed large sections of the upper deck. The largest single pieces to be removed - the concrete raker beams that support the seating areas - will weigh from 250,000 to 400,000 lbs.

Once on the ground, the pieces were reduced in sized and hauled for crushing and recycling.

Construction began in summer 2004 on the four new west side elevator shafts, two at the north and south corners and two in the middle of the west side. Each shaft is more than 145 ft. tall and about 280 sq. ft. Anywhere from 74 to 89 piles were driven for each shaft.

High-strength concrete supplied by Angelle Concrete of Baton Rouge was placed for much of the job, with some 5,000 psi mix placed for the foundations. About 90 percent of the concrete will be pumped by Concrete Eaters of Sulphur and about 1,900 tons of reinforcing steel supplied by Southern States Steel of Beaumont, Texas.

The largest foundation measures 105 ft. by 38.5 ft. by 8 ft. thick and supports the new south pedestrian ramp.

Stogner said removal of the upper deck took about 60 days. Existing columns beneath the deck were removed and new rectangular columns were built atop new transfer girders that measure 6 ft. wide and 13 ft. deep.

"From the ground up, there will be 20 new columns," Stogner added. The columns that support the new upper deck measure 5 ft. by 7 ft., while columns supporting new north and south stairwells will measure 3 ft. by 13 ft.

After the new poured-in-place raker beams were built, Boykin Bros. Of Baton Rouge supplied precast seat sections on a "just in time" basis.

Upon completion, the new deck, designed by Trahan Architects of Baton Rouge, will extend further southward by about 100 ft. and will reach about 20 ft. higher.