The International Concrete Repair Institute recently chose the Grant Park South Garage rehabilitation project in Chicago as its 2003 project of the year.
ICRI presented the contracting company that oversaw the project, Walker Parking Consultants of Elgin, Ill., with the award Oct. 24 at the institute’s fall convention in Tampa.
The Grant Park South Garage is a four-level underground parking facility that includes 536,000 square feet and 1,300 parking spaces in downtown Chicago. The garage was originally built in 1963, but because of deteriorating concrete, a major renovation was needed. Because the top level of the garage supports portions of Grant Park, Michigan Avenue, and Jackson Street, the rehabilitation proved extremely difficult.
Primary repairs included full-depth slab replacement for the garage and Michigan Avenue concrete slabs. The new concrete slabs include a calcium nitrate corrosion inhibitor and moisture protection systems, which will help extend the longevity of the garage. Concrete repairs were also done at the lower level slab, which is the garage’s primary foundation. Because contractors did not want to cause any damage to the existing parks and streets at ground level above, partial depth concrete repairs were used. Hydrodemolition removed the top 3 inches of concrete and provided a new concrete environment of microsilica and calcium nitrate around all foundation slab top bars.
The rehabilitation project extended the life of the garage by more than 25 years. The improvements included operational enhancements and modernizations, and updated the structure to meet current building codes and laws.
In addition to the project of the year award, the concrete repair institute gave five other projects awards of excellence. The Seven Sister Generating Station rehabilitation project in Canada was selected for the longevity category, the University of Kentucky parking structure #2 restoration and expansion project was the recipient in the parking structure category, the structural repairs to the Catholic Church of St. Joseph in Menomonie, Wis., received the excellence award for the special projects category, the rehabilitation of the La Rioja Bridge in Colombia won the award for the transportation category and the Arizona Dam Spillway repair project was named the recipient in the category for water structures.
