PORT ANGELES — After months of little or no activity, jack hammering could be heard echoing from the east side of The Gateway in downtown Port Angeles on Tuesday.
But the sound of metal chiseling away concrete does not mean the completion of the project that has been delayed since cracks underneath a concrete beam were discovered in September in the parking garage beneath the project’s pavilion.
The work done Tuesday was cosmetic.
No decision has been made about the structural integrity of the building after the cracks under the concrete beam were discovered.
“We’re just doing punch-list items,” said Roland Ordona, Primo Construction site superintendant, on Tuesday.
“We’re fixing slabs down below that had cracks in them.”
These cracks, located in a floor-slab of concrete just north of the pavilion, weren’t a safety concern, but were “visually unacceptable.”
A Primo employee chiseled away at the top layer of the slab Tuesday to allow a new layer to be poured.
The joint city of Port Angeles and Clallam Transit project — located at Front and Lincoln streets and Railroad Avenue — is budgeted at $14.7 million by the city.
It includes a transit center, parking garage, pavilion and police substation.
The city and Clallam Transit received $8.1 million in state and federal grant funding for The Gateway.
Ordona said Primo has had a skeleton crew of one or two people at the site when there is work that can be done, since at least early November.
Major work has been hold there while the city resolves safety concerns with the structural integrity of the pavilion.
Until that is done, Primo cannot pour a second slab of concrete on the plaza floor in the pavilion because, after the cracks appeared, the city wants to ensure that the structure can support the additional weight.
That work item is the last non-aesthetic job to be done on The Gateway.
Glenn Cutler, city public works director, said last week that the city is still waiting for questions to be answered about the design of The Gateway by Krei Architecture and Bright Engineering, Inc, both of Seattle.
“We’re looking at structural issues,” he said, adding that the cause of the cracking has yet to be determined.
“I can’t say if it’s the concrete mix, steel design, steel tension.
“I don’t know that specific.”
A probable cause identified by Cutler in November is the “post-tensioning process” used in the horizontal concrete beams that support the pavilion. With this method, intended to add strength, steel wires within the concrete are pulled taut.
Completing The Gateway will require an extension of Primo’s $8 million contract with the city.
Ordona said that still needs to be negotiated, and he didn’t know how many work days were left in the original contract.
Ordona said that the cold, wet weather last month has not affected the structural integrity of The Gateway’s buildings.
During that time water pipe froze and burst, but was fixed, he said.
The second slab of concrete will allow for better water drainage on the pavilion floor, where puddles of water remain for days after rainfall and snow melt.
According to city Finance Director Yvone Ziomkowski, major costs for The Gateway include:
• About $8 million to Primo.
• About $3 million for property acquisition, done by Clallam Transit.
• $616,000 to Exceltech, which is managing the project.
• $412,728 Krei contract, which includes design review during construction.
• About $200,000 for signs for The Gateway.
Clallam Transit has provided $500,000 toward the project, in addition to the money for acquiring property.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
