City begins working on downtown ‘protection wall’
JONESBORO, Ark. (KAIT) – The City of Jonesboro said it has begun constructing a wall to protect residents and nearby businesses from a “bulging” downtown building.
Engineers suggested installing a wall on the west side of First Horizon Bank to protect it from concrete falling from the Citizen’s Bank Building on Main Street during Thursday night’s city council meeting.
Donna Malone, director of communications for the city, said Friday morning that construction was underway.
According to the phase 1 immediate action report by North Delta Engineering, a brief visual inspection of the build was performed on Sept. 25 due to a concern about “the east wall structure deflecting outward toward Main Street.”
That is when Main Street was closed to traffic because of the concern.
On Oct. 1, North Delta Engineering performed a more thorough inspection.
That inspection found two areas of the external wall that appear to have “lost lateral support, and the wall structure has moved away from the building.”
The area between the stairwell and elevator structure was deemed the most concerning at the time the report said.
Another area of concern was above and below the 6th floor, but the report states it was more isolated.
The report said the area deflecting towards Main Street appears to be at risk of collapse. That area is made of “vertical architectural precast concrete elements between porcelain enamel panels.”
The areas are considered non-load bearing.
Due to the risk of the precast concrete falling, a recommendation of a protection wall be built on the west side of the First Horizon Bank building which is across the street from the Citizen’s Bank Building as well as the west side of the Mutual of Omaha building.
The report also recommends adding lateral bracing to the precast concrete elements of both areas of concern.
After that is added, the report recommends portions of the façade be demolished down to the 5th-floor level, which is the original floor level.
During its Oct. 3 meeting, the Jonesboro City Council discussed efforts to protect citizens from possible effects from the damage.
The council unanimously approved a resolution that would declare an emergency and would authorize the Mayor to retain legal and engineering services and allocate funding to construct protective structures in front of the Citizen’s Bank building.
During a discussion of the resolution, Mayor Copenhaver said he would also work to provide a weekly report to the council of funds used during this process.
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