Fortifying Tiger Stadium
New concrete upper deck to be taller, wider

By Sam Barnes

Working on the most watched jobsite in Louisiana has its perks.

"We don't have to work most Saturdays in the fall," said construction manager Mark Houck with Yates Construction of Philadelphia, Miss. The contractor is in the middle of a $60 million project that will replace LSU Tiger Stadium's west upper deck with 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 will be placed for the new deck.

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To prevent a reduction in seating capacity during the current football season, none of the demolition will occur until after the last home game on Nov. 26. Crews are instead constructing foundations, four poured-in-place concrete elevator shafts and a new pedestrian ramp at the south end zone.

"This is a high profile project with some time-sensitive issues," said Jim McArthur, Yates' business development manager. "We ramped up to get construction up to a certain level, then geared down during the football season." An existing parking lot on the west side is being used as a laydown yard.

Any week preceding a home game concludes with an intensive effort to fan-proof the site and allow access to all major entrances to the stadium. The contractor also fences off the site perimeter.

Yates began work at the site in January with a test pile program by Gulf South Piling & Construction of Jefferson.

"We re-designed the pile configurations and lengthened the piles to 114.5 ft," Houck said. Most of the nearly 700 piles will support new elevator shafts, the pedestrian ramp and deck support columns.

"The majority were precast concrete piles, but we had some 16-in.-diameter steel pipe piles in areas where we had overhead obstructions within the existing stadium," he added. The pipe piles were driven in 20-ft. segments, then welded together to reach the specified length.

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

"In an effort to get as much done as possible, we slip-formed the north elevator tower all the way to its final elevation, while the remaining shafts only go part of the way up with conventional forms," Houck said. "They won't be finished until after demolition."

High-strength concrete supplied by Angelle Concrete of Baton Rouge is being 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 will support the new south pedestrian ramp.

"The foundation for the ramp requires a little more than 1,200 cu. yds. of concrete and was finished in September," he added. The ramp will take fans on the stadium's south end from ground level to the upper deck.

Two weeks prior to the last game, Deep South Crane of Baton Rouge will deliver a 1,500-ton lattice boom crane to the site on 56 trucks in preparation for the demolition of the mammoth upper deck.

"The crane will have 330 ft. of main boom and will be assembled in the laydown area," Houck said. A 300-ton crawler crane will assist with the demolition.

Louisiana Chemical Dismantling of Baton Rouge will perform the demolition by cutting and removing 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.

"The men will be up there physically cutting these sections out and burning the weld joints with torches," Houck said.

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

The demolition crew will begin at the south end of the site and "work its way north, and we'll follow behind with construction," Houck added.

Ralph Stogner, project manager with the Tiger Athletic Foundation, the project owner, said removal of the upper deck should take about 60 days.

"After the top comes off, the column configuration will change somewhat," Stogner said. Existing columns beneath the deck will be removed and new rectangular columns will be built atop new transfer girders that measure 6 ft. wide and 13 ft. deep.

"From the ground up, there will be 20 new columns," he added.

After the new poured-in-place raker beams are built, Boykin Bros. Inc./Louisiana Concrete Products of Baton Rouge will supply precast seat sections on a "just in time" basis.

"We expect to be forming and pouring raker beams and placing precast as early as the first part of March (beginning at the south end)," Houck said.

At about the same time, Yates and its subcontractors should peak at about 250 workers onsite.

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.

"The majority of work will be finished before the 2005 football season, but final completion will follow in the summer of 2006," Houck said. "While the seating will be ready, we'll still be working on interior finishes, paint and fixtures."

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