Seismic retrofitting for Cal State Long Beach's parking structure will begin March 22 at a cost of exactly $2,398,526.
A contract award was given to the EMMA Corporation of Santa Monica Feb. 23.
CSULB President Maxson said the money will not come out of the universities budget.
Scott Charmack vice-president of Physical Planning and Facility Management at CSULB said public money is involved in the project which has cost approximately $4 million, including the retrofit. "We're very excited about getting the bid because this is the type of work we specialize in." said Rosana Castillo, a spokesperson at EMMA Corporation.
Castillo said her firm is currently retrofitting parking facilities at LAX and has completed seismic retrofits at Cal State Los Angeles, as well as UCLA.
Dr. Saiful Islam, a project director from Englekirk and Sabol Consulting Engineers Inc., is in charge of the CSULB parking structure project. He said the retrofit involves three specific tasks.
"First we need to reinforce and strengthen existing walls. We also need to reinforce existing selected precast girders. These girders are horizontal beams that support the structure."
Islam said curbs are being placed at the edges of floor slabs to prevent an earthquake from separating the walls from the floor.
"The floor slabs need to be reinforced by adding curbs," he said.
Islam said that it would be difficult to determine any potential damage to the structure without the retrofit. However, he said that with the retrofit, the parking structure would hold up in a earthquake like the 6.7 temblor that shook Northridge.
Castillo was unable to confirm a completion date on the retrofit. However, she said that EMMA Corporation has always been able to meet deadlines and that students will not be inconvenienced by the construction work.
Maxson has pushed to get the parking structure open by fall 1995.