Repair Bill A Problem In Atlanta Olympic Stadium Reinforcements Raise Many Unanswered Questions

The reason the Olympic Stadium needed $3 million in repairs and reinforcements before it even opened may remain a mystery until after the Games, when organizers try to get that money back.

Though the need to reinforce parts of the steel structure was discovered in an engineering review that was prompted by a fatal construction accident, no evidence has surfaced to suggest that the additional problems - now being corrected - posed a safety threat.

The repairs, including reinforcing steel supports in the press box and other areas, have been described instead as needed to forestall costly repairs after the building becomes the home of the Atlanta Braves.

However, there has been no public documentation of exactly why the reinforcements were needed, leaving some to wonder whether the crown jewel of the 1996 Games was a lemon.

“The information has not come forth. It’s a bad situation to be in,” said Reggie Williams, executive director of the Atlanta-Fulton County Recreation Authority, which gets the $230 million, 83,500-seat stadium for free after the Olympics but will be responsible for its upkeep.

“When you start talking about reinforcements, that’s not aesthetics. That’s integrity and safety,” Williams said. “There are things everybody’s concerned about. Maybe there aren’t things to be concerned about … but they require an explanation.”

The engineer’s report, obtained by the Associated Press, detailed where the work was being done but did not address why.

Officials at the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games are convinced the finished stadium will be safe and sound.

“Other than the complicating factors of cost and complexity that it adds to the completion of the work, there is no risk, there is no concern over the ultimate safety of the facility,” said Bill Moss, the ACOG construction manager.

Moss refused to discuss specifics of the repairs, in part because the issue of who was at fault for necessitating the added work probably is headed for court.

Though $3 million is a small amount compared with the total cost of the stadium, ACOG has an extremely tight budget and no extra money to play with. ACOG is paying $207 million to build the Olympic Stadium and convert it to a baseball park, while the Braves are chipping in $23 million.

The story of the stadium repairs began with a plan, since scrapped, by ACOG to string a tightrope from a light tower for a high-wire act during the opening ceremony.

While evaluating that plan, a structural engineer from Rosser International, one of the four firms that together designed the stadium, discovered he had miscalculated how much weight the tower could hold, according to an investigation last year by the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration.

The design team, however, did not immediately take corrective action, OSHA said. Ten days later, a truss on the tower collapsed, sending construction worker Jack Falls 150 feet to his death and injuring a co-worker.

OSHA said it could not issue a citation because Falls did not work for the designer. A state investigation into the March 20 accident has been completed but not released.

After the accident, the design consortium hired Weidlinger Associates Inc., a New York-based structural engineering firm, to recommend how to redo the light tower and also to conduct a “peer review” of the entire stadium.

In a report dated Oct. 27 but not publicly acknowledged until last month, Weidlinger said the stadium needs more braces and beams in the press area, exterior pedestrian ramps, and roof trusses and corbels, the concrete supports that project from a wall.

“If Jack hadn’t died, these things would have been overlooked also,” said Lynne Falls, the construction worker’s sister.

Noah Long, Rosser’s senior vice president who has acted as a spokesman for the design team, was out of town and could not be reached for comment. He has previously described the work as enhancements to make an already solid stadium stronger.

The repairs, affecting about 3 percent of the stadium, began about three months ago.

Richard Monteilh, executive director of the Metropolitan Atlanta Olympic Games Authority, said ACOG is paying for the work out of its $561 million construction budget so as not to delay construction with a fight over who is responsible.

The Games begin July 19, but the stadium is needed for a pre-Olympic track and field meet in May.

“You couldn’t let it sit and rot there while this thing is in court,” Monteilh said. “For $2 or $3 million, it wasn’t worth it.”

The city building department, which must issue an occupancy permit, will decide whether the repairs did the job.