
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, September 8, 1994                   TAG: 9409080078
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DAN CASEY
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

GARAGE FACING FALLS INTO STREET

Concrete falling from the facade of Roanoke's parking garage on West Church Avenue closed one block of the street Wednesday, but city officials said the damage won't necessitate major repairs.

The Fire Department cordoned off the downtown avenue between First and Second streets shortly after 8 a.m. after a chunk of concrete fell. No one was injured, no cars were hit, and the street was reopened in the afternoon.

The problem prompted a flurry of calls by concerned parkers worried that the garage might be falling down, said Nelson Jackson, manager of the city's building maintenance department.

It isn't.

The concrete that cracked loose from the facade was on cosmetic ``caps'' laid over the ends of horizontal beams in the 16-year-old garage. The damage is not structural, and there is no danger to cars parked in the building, said Bane Coburn, a civil engineer with the city.

Over the years, water worked its way between the ends of the beams and the caps. Repeated freezing and thawing last winter, combined with beam expansion attributed to this summer's heat, loosened the concrete ends.

Workers from the building maintenance department used a fire department ladder truck to remove the most deteriorated caps Wednesday.

Several dozen more of the 1-foot-square, 11/2-inch-thick slabs will have to be replaced because of cracking. Coburn said the city probably will solicit bids from contractors.

by CNB