A North Dakota construction company was recently recognized for the work performed to help repair a City of Bismarck structure in the city’s downtown.
Vector Construction was a Gold Star Winner in the Innovation Category of the Excellence in Concrete Award program by the North Dakota Ready Mix & Concrete Products Association for their work on the Bismarck Parkade Ramp. The Parkade is one of four parking structures and two surface lots overseen by the Bismarck Parking Authority.
“The Parkade structure dates back to the early 1970s,” said Jim Christianson, who chairs the Bismarck Parking Authority. “The Parkade is our oldest parking structure, just over 50 years old. It was well-built when it was built, but over time moisture got into some of the encapsulated areas and that created the damaged areas that needed to be replaced.”
The Bismarck Parkade is a six-level structure with 432 parking spaces located at Sixth Street and Broadway Avenue and is managed by Rocky Gordon Company.
“We had noticed some dilapidation of a tendon button-head on the top level of the structure, as part of a structural engineer’s yearly report, and the helix exit needed some structural strengthening,” said Rocky Gordon Company Vice President Jeremy Petron. “With the height and design of those structure parts, that took some special ingenuity.”
The successful implementation of the project added years to the useful lifespan of the Parkade and essentially saved the City of Bismarck and its citizens money as the structure did not need to be demolished and rebuilt.
“North Dakota has a harsh climate that is destructive to concrete,” said Al Hagen, a Superintendent located in Bismarck with Vector Construction. “We knew there was an emphasis on maintaining public access to the Parkade. That is where we came up with the idea to erect scaffolding in a way that allowed our crews full access while maintaining public access to and from the structure. We began by coring holes through the overhead concrete slab to allow direct placement of the concrete. After the additional reinforcements and forms were set in place, a 42-meter concrete pump was used to place the concrete in pre-drilled holes.”
Vector Construction worked with Walker Consultants, a national design company, to develop the construction solution successfully completed in August 2023. The project included repairing concrete radius beams on three levels of the spiral exit ramp.
“This was one of those situations where we needed to come up with a solution,” said Hagen. “Having the Rocky Gordon Company’s team on-site was so helpful. They were very accommodating and had realistic goals in mind. When you start talking about needing to redirect traffic in the Parkade or on the street, having a good customer on a project makes a huge difference. All of the organizations we worked with, CW Structural Engineers, Strata Corporation and Walker Consultants, were a great asset on this project.”
This project was the lone Bismarck location to win one of the 14 category awards from the North Dakota Ready Mix & Concrete Products Association this year. Visit the North Dakota Ready Mix & Concrete Products Association website for more information about this, and other projects receiving awards.