azdad1978
Championship!!!!
Project 45% complete, managers say
Pat Flannery
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 18, 2004 12:00 AM
The gargantuan gray-steel contraption that freeway motorists see peeking over the southern rim of Cardinals Stadium in Glendale signals a construction milestone, and it will substantially heighten the new football arena when hoisted aloft early next year.
The maze of steel amid a sea of concrete is an eyeful for motorists as they cruise by the venue, which is under construction east of Loop 101 near 91st and Maryland avenues. Every month, it seems, the sights change as construction moves toward an August 2006 completion deadline.
Brad Parker, spokesman for the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority, said the $370.6 million stadium is on budget and on schedule to open for the National Football League's 2006 preseason.
The progress is good news for Glendale residents. The city has invested substantial time and money into trying to transform the mile between Bethany Home Road and Glendale Avenue along Loop 101 into a sports and entertainment center. North of Glendale Arena, where the Phoenix Coyotes play hockey, work finally has begun on the first phase of Westgate City Center, a complex of restaurants, stores, offices and theaters that is to be expanded over the next decade
The sports authority estimates that the stadium will have brought 3,500 jobs and $400 million in economic benefits to the area by the time it is built.
The newly visible steel structure is part of the stadium's roof assembly, a mass of angular beams that will support retractable roof panels. The 6,200-ton structure is being assembled entirely inside the stadium's bowl. In February, a jacking system will lift it 171 feet, roof panels and all, onto a perch atop four giant concrete "super columns."
At that point, the top of the stadium roof will tower 206 feet above grade, dwarfing nearby Glendale Arena, which is about half that height.
The stadium project reached a critical point last week when the northern halves of two 1,800-ton, 700-foot-long Brunel trusses - the main weight-bearing structures for the roof - were finished and linked together by the steel skeletons of the retractable roof panels and their motorized carriers. Project managers declared the stadium work 45 percent finished.
Assembly now starts on the southern halves of the trusses, while work continues on the concrete concourses and upper seating bowls on the western and southern sides. Construction of the upper bowl has reached its highest point on the northern and eastern sides.
With the concrete superstructure largely finished on the north and east, workers are now installing the stadium's silver "skin" to give it a reflective, metallic look. From a distance, tall yellow jack frames also are visible atop the stadium, signaling the start of work on the complicated jacking system that will lift the roof into place.
Inside the stadium, ramps linking the various levels are finished, masonry work is well under way on concession and restroom areas, heating and cooling ducts are being installed, several escalators have been lifted into place and three of the half-dozen massive chillers to air-condition the stadium have been plopped into the stadium's southern end.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1118stadium18.html
Pat Flannery
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 18, 2004 12:00 AM
The gargantuan gray-steel contraption that freeway motorists see peeking over the southern rim of Cardinals Stadium in Glendale signals a construction milestone, and it will substantially heighten the new football arena when hoisted aloft early next year.
The maze of steel amid a sea of concrete is an eyeful for motorists as they cruise by the venue, which is under construction east of Loop 101 near 91st and Maryland avenues. Every month, it seems, the sights change as construction moves toward an August 2006 completion deadline.
Brad Parker, spokesman for the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority, said the $370.6 million stadium is on budget and on schedule to open for the National Football League's 2006 preseason.
The progress is good news for Glendale residents. The city has invested substantial time and money into trying to transform the mile between Bethany Home Road and Glendale Avenue along Loop 101 into a sports and entertainment center. North of Glendale Arena, where the Phoenix Coyotes play hockey, work finally has begun on the first phase of Westgate City Center, a complex of restaurants, stores, offices and theaters that is to be expanded over the next decade
The sports authority estimates that the stadium will have brought 3,500 jobs and $400 million in economic benefits to the area by the time it is built.
The newly visible steel structure is part of the stadium's roof assembly, a mass of angular beams that will support retractable roof panels. The 6,200-ton structure is being assembled entirely inside the stadium's bowl. In February, a jacking system will lift it 171 feet, roof panels and all, onto a perch atop four giant concrete "super columns."
At that point, the top of the stadium roof will tower 206 feet above grade, dwarfing nearby Glendale Arena, which is about half that height.
The stadium project reached a critical point last week when the northern halves of two 1,800-ton, 700-foot-long Brunel trusses - the main weight-bearing structures for the roof - were finished and linked together by the steel skeletons of the retractable roof panels and their motorized carriers. Project managers declared the stadium work 45 percent finished.
Assembly now starts on the southern halves of the trusses, while work continues on the concrete concourses and upper seating bowls on the western and southern sides. Construction of the upper bowl has reached its highest point on the northern and eastern sides.
With the concrete superstructure largely finished on the north and east, workers are now installing the stadium's silver "skin" to give it a reflective, metallic look. From a distance, tall yellow jack frames also are visible atop the stadium, signaling the start of work on the complicated jacking system that will lift the roof into place.
Inside the stadium, ramps linking the various levels are finished, masonry work is well under way on concession and restroom areas, heating and cooling ducts are being installed, several escalators have been lifted into place and three of the half-dozen massive chillers to air-condition the stadium have been plopped into the stadium's southern end.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1118stadium18.html
