Construction completed on retaining wall
New structure protects city buildings
Construction has been completed on a retaining wall that ensures soil integrity around Minot Municipal Auditorium, at left, and the Minot Police Station, at right. It includes metal staircases for access between the ground levels
Construction workers put final touches on concrete work on the top side of a retaining wall next to Minot Municipal Auditorium Aug. 8
Construction has been completed on a retaining wall that ensures soil integrity around Minot Municipal Auditorium, at left, and the Minot Police Station, at right. It includes metal staircases for access between the ground levels
Construction workers put final touches on concrete work on the top side of a retaining wall next to Minot Municipal Auditorium Aug. 8
Trending
The construction of a retaining wall around Minot Municipal Auditorium and the Minot Police Department is essentially complete, with just a few loose ends that soon will be wrapped up on the project.
"All in all, I think it’s a successful project," City Engineer Lance Meyer said. "It was delivered late, but I think overall it’s a nice look for the area. It completely transforms it. It protects the public buildings that are around the site. So I think it’s a good project. It will last 75 years plus."
Meyer said the minor details remaining include a small amount of painting and sidewalk work, along with landscape completion, including planting shrubs.
The project started in April 2022, with substantial completion expected in November 2022. Meyer explained a subcontractor working with the prime contractor, Rolac Contracting, had difficulty with the piles that support the wall. That delayed everything else, he said.
The city will be working through liquidated damages with the contractor over the delay.
The wall consists of steel piles with wooden boards between them, hidden beneath concrete precast panels. There are about 80 of the panels, Meyer said. Metal staircases provide access between the former city hall that houses the police station and the auditorium, allowing passage over walls that stand as high as 25 feet.
Meyer said lighting around the walls will serve to light the parking areas as well.
On the auditorium side, a moment slab was constructed, which serves as a barrier to prevent vehicles from crashing into the wall and also serves as a sidewalk.
Meyer said the stone slope that the new wall replaces was losing its integrity over its many years of service. The greatest concern was potential damage to the foundation of the northwest corner of the auditorium.
"We were concerned about that because then you have a structural problem with the building. It would be hard just to shore up one side of it. It wouldn't look the best, so the decision was we needed to replace the whole wall, not only to protect the auditorium but the city hall facility below it. The added benefit is now instead of this giant slope that took up 30-some feet of space, now you can expand your site. There's more room for parking. There's more room for a potential building expansion."
The project also included replacing a segment of old cast iron water pipe with PVC pipe.
Meyer said the total cost is expected to be about $6 million, the majority of which came from Hub City oil and gas dollars from the state. The remainder came from city sales tax.