A Super Reconstruction Effort

Enlarge Image This P&H 5150 150-ton lattice-boom crawler crane was crucial to the reconstruction of the Superdome suites.

December 6, 2006 • On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall, devastating the Gulf Coast and wreaking havoc along the coastlines of Mississippi and Louisiana. Nearly 2,000 people lost their lives and the storm caused nearly $81.2 billion in damages. Even the massive New Orleans Superdome was not impervious to the elements, and when the storm finally dissipated, the damage done to the interior of the building was immense.

 

Although the outside structure of the dome wasn't compromised, Doug Thornton, regional vice president of SMG, the company that operates the Superdome, said about 70% of the roof had failed. Water had damaged virtually every interior space, the playing field was soiled, and the seats were stained and ruined. There was three feet of standing water outside of the dome for weeks, and sewage had backed up, overflowing everywhere. The future of the Superdome and its football team, the New Orleans Saints, looked bleak.

 

But in October 2005, then-NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue told officials to not only rebuild the stadium but to make it better. A few weeks later, the next presiding commissioner, Roger Goodell, told those same officials to have it ready by the start of the following football season, September 2006. The estimated cost for the project: $185 million.

 

Enlarge Image A total of 4,000 tons of trash and debris was removed from the dome.

This announcement, along with the allocation of emergency funds from several government sources, spurred things into action. The following 11 months featured a flurry of activity from local construction companies. A grand total of 35 subcontractors worked on the Superdome during the peak months of renovations, and 30 of those crews were based in New Orleans. NFL.com reported 850 workers were on the jobsite, all of whom were under the direction of construction manager Broadmoor, LLC of Metairie, La. In total, 800,000-square-feet of sheetrock and 500,000-square-feet of ceiling tile were replaced; 1.6 million square feet of carpeting was removed; 58,000 seats were cleaned while 10,000 were replaced; 3.8 million gallons of water were extracted from the dome and its garages; and 4,000 tons of trash and debris were removed.

 

Along with the materials used to repair the building, lifting equipment from a number of local rental fleets were on the job. New Orleans-based Stewart Interiors, specialists in drywall and metal framing, rented various machines for the project. According to Paul Stringer, superintendent of Stewart Interiors, the company rented about 10 19-foot scissor lifts and two 150-foot-tall JLG 150HAX articulating boom lifts.

 

Several of Stewart Interior's scissor lifts came from the New Orleans branch of Aerial Access Equipment. “After the hurricane, things were chaotic,” said Kelly Breaux, sales representative for Aerial Access. “We couldn't keep equipment in the yard because people were afraid that if they turned their machines back in, they wouldn't be able to rent a machine when they needed it.”

 

Enlarge Image A 240-ton Liebherr LTM 1200-1 lifted the scoreboard into place.

B&G Crane Service, LLC, Jefferson, La., operated three cranes inside the Superdome, including a 150-ton P&H 5150 lattice-boom crawler and a 150-ton Link-Belt 518 crawler. A 240-ton Liebherr LTM 1200-1 all-terrain crane was brought in to lift the scoreboard into place. While the AT crane did the heavy lifting, the two crawler cranes were crucial to reconstructing the suites.

 

According to Lee Bourgeois, operations manager for B&G Crane, all the heavy lifts were made in the blind with signals given by radio. “The operators would look up and all the lights would be in their eyes, so they couldn't see anything,” he said. “The radio operators would talk him in, telling him to boom up to a certain degree, and then swing over to the suites.”

 

On the exterior of the building, the roof also had to be replaced. Touted as the largest re-roofing project of its kind in the United States, Brazos Urethane, Inc., headquartered in College Station, Texas, with offices in Baton Rouge, La., brought in nearly 120 workers to replace the 440,000-square-foot roof. Brazos finished replacing the roof on July 19 • seven weeks ahead of schedule.

 

Enlarge Image The New Orleans Saints were welcomed back home by a sold out crowd.

On September 25, the New Orleans Superdome held its first athletic event since August 2005. More than 68,000 people attended the game, experiencing both the reemergence of the Super Dome and the New Orleans Saints that night. Nothing dampened the spirits of the fans as they watched their team play at home for the first time in more than a year.

 

And as an end to the wonderful story of the rebuilt Superdome: The Saints won the ballgame 23-3.