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Your Georgia Connection: Rich Olivier, Atlanta, GA • 1-800-409-1479
Atlanta Visitors, Residents Go Sky High on Skyview By Cindy Riley CEG CORRESPONDENT
A highly anticipated construction project that has had its share of ups and downs is now complete in downtown Atlanta. A 20-story tall Ferris wheel, known as Skyview Atlanta, is open for business at the south end of Centennial Olympic Park. “The wheel itself is 180 feet high, but when you include the platform it sits upon and our preparation of the site, fliers will be approximately 200 feet off the ground,” said Jason Evans, spokesman of Skyview Atlanta. “The project has excited the city so much. The media has been beating down my door, constantly wanting more information about how the construction was going, and when we expected to open.” The steel structure features 42 gondolas that can hold up to six people. Each enclosed bucket offers heat and air-conditioning, a panic button connected to an intercom, and nonreflective glass for taking photographs and recording video. The ride includes four rotations and takes about 15 minutes. Equipped with one million multi-colored LED lights, the attraction was originally scheduled to debut just days before the July 4th holiday. Unfortunately, the start date had to be pushed back, despite crews working extended hours to try and meet the original deadline. “The main challenges were schedule, weather and existing conditions,” said Brent Benson, project manager of Civil Site Services Inc. “Our company was responsible for the excavation, haul off, import of stone, concrete and asphalt. We also installed fencing for privacy.” According to Benson the space is very compact, and totals less than 5,000 sq. ft. (464.5 sq m) of disturbed area. Crews had to excavate roughly 6 ft. (1.8 m) into the ground for a total of six footings. They averaged 5 ft. (1.52 m) wide by 20 ft. (6 m) long. The team excavated for the footings, demolished the existing parking lot, installed an underground detention system, poured concrete footings, built a concrete deck for the customers, installed hand rails and installed wood dunnage for the ride to sit on. In addition crews hauled 18 tons (16.3 t) of mulch for the landscaping and paved areas that were not covered up by the ride. Crews relied on a Volvo 160 excavator to dig up the unsuitable “We hauled off roughly 750 cubic yards of dirt, a Cat 259 skid steer to place stone back into the holes that dirt,” said Benson. “To replace the dirt, we were excavated and a Cat 323 compactor to compact the stone brought in approximately 600 tons of stone. We that was transported to the site.
A 20-story tall ferris wheel, known as Skyview Atlanta, is open for business at the south end of Centennial Olympic Park.
had good compacted material for the footings to rest on. We also poured approximately 65 cubic yards of concrete for the stabilization of the ride. We used 1,500 linear feet of 6 inch by 6 inch by 10 feet oak timbers for the water ballast to rest on and level the ride up.” To carry out the variety of tasks, crews relied on a Volvo 160 excavator to dig up the unsuitable dirt, a Cat 259 skid steer to place stone back into the holes that were excavated and a Cat 323 compactor to compact the stone that was transported to the site. Workers used tandem dump trucks to move the material to and from the job site and a RT82 trench roller to compact the stone in the tighter areas. Crews had to install concrete pads for the ride to be stable, according to Benson. At the start of the job, workers discovered there was a Georgia Power duct bank that ran across the entire site, and caused a quick change in the design of the field. The duct bank was approximately one foot below the existing asphalt parking lot, and was two feet higher than see SKYVIEW page 6