Thump, thump, thumping work downtown to wrap up soon
<p>The final remenants of Whitefish's historic City Hall are cleared away Thursday morning.</p>
The constant banging that has rattled downtown Whitefish for the past few weeks should soon draw to a close.
Work on the rammed aggregate piers at the City Hall and parking structure construction site is expected to be completed by the end of next week, according to the city’s representative Mike Cronquist. As of Monday there were about 100 of the rammed aggregate piers remaining of the 400 planned for the site.
“So far people have been good about the noise,” Cronquist said. “We have had calls about the noise radiating down to the end of Central Avenue. We expect the rattling and banging noises to be done by the end of next week.”
To install the aggregate piers, a 2 1/2 foot diameter hole is augured to a depth of 15 to 19 feet and filled with compacted gravel. After the hole is drilled, it is packed with engineered base aggregate in layers of 8 to 12 inches at a time, with a large hydraulic tamper. The sequence is repeated until the hole is completely filled with a solid column of gravel.
The piers provide the support system to hold the weight of the new City Hall building and parking structure.
Cronquist said the project, which is expected to take up to two years to complete, is currently on schedule.
“The colder temperatures have helped,” he said. “It’s difficult to work in the mud and that decreased our productivity.”
The first load of rebar is expected on site Monday. Concrete work, along with underground utility work. should follow soon after and then the structural steel work. Concrete work will increase the truck traffic through the site to downtown. Cronquist said there could be between 10 to 20 loads per day of concrete being delivered to the site.
“By about early spring things should start taking shape,” he said. “People will be able to drive by and start to see a building.”
As work continues, the engineering firm hired by the city continues to monitor for any disturbances caused by the work to surrounding buildings. Cronquist said inspections take place weekly and so far there has been no issues.