Cracked concrete in Kelowna parkade makes stairwell look like a crime scene
Using one of the stairways in Kelowna’s Library Parkade can be a little daunting these days.
It’s not the hike up or down the stairs that’s the problem, it’s the floor jacks and yellow caution tape running the length of the stairwell that gives one pause.
But, according to City of Kelowna staff, there’s nothing to worry about and it will be restored to its normal state soon.
“We had a number of projects that we did at the Library Parkade and one area was a portion of cracked concrete in this one stairwell, which we deal with quite often in concrete structures,” Dave Duncan, the city’s parking services manager, told iNFOnews.ca.
The crack was near the bottom of the stairwell closest to Ellis Street.
The normal procedure is for the contractor to open up the damaged concrete and check the rebar to see if it needs to be fixed or replaced.
In this case, they found that the reinforcing work had not been done according to the drawings from when the parkade was built about 25 years ago.
“Whenever we have this kind of work done, there’s always the consulting structural engineer that oversees the work,” Duncan said. “Because they found that, they recommended that we scan the whole stairwell to see if the stairwell, as built, is actually sufficient. So, out of an abundance of caution, because this is a public facility, they recommended we expand the shoring to the entire stairwell until they can complete the scanning and review.”
That scanning has now been done. It found that the stairwell is safe, he said.
Duncan, when he talked to iNFOnews.ca, had not seen the engineer’s final written report so couldn’t say whether it was just the one cracked stair that was not built according to plan or the entire stairwell that was different than the plan.
The key thing, he said, is that it’s deemed safe by the engineer. The repairs will now be done on the cracked area and the shoring and tape will be coming down soon.
The city spends millions of dollars maintaining its three parkades, Duncan said, noting that the driving surface is recoated regularly to make sure water doesn’t get into the concrete.
“I would say that our parkades are some of the best maintained that you will ever see,” Duncan said.
Regular maintenance means major, multi-million dollar repairs don’t have to be done.
READ MORE: Kelowna considers May long weekend closure of Bernard Avenue downtown
Concrete parkades, if properly maintained, can last 50 to 70 years or more, he said.
“We spend a lot of time on these parkades because they’re kind of open to the air and exposed to the elements,” Duncan said. “We do our best to stay on top of it and make sure we keep them safe. It’s probably a little bit of overkill, the shoring and that, but because it’s a public facility that’s open 24/7 and gets a lot of use, we’re not going to risk anything.”
To contact a reporter for this story, email Rob Munro or call 250-808-0143 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
