Shed’s Possible Delay Might Stink

Tuscaloosa, Ala.’s amphitheatre construction project has been hampered by torrential late summer and fall rains that may force a delay in the shed’s scheduled opening date. The entire Southeast was battered by storms for much of that time in 2009.

The storms caused 36 rained-out workdays, the city’s facilities maintenance director told the Tuscaloosa News, adding that a contract extension may be sought to keep between 60 and 80 workers on the job.

“We categorize that as rains of epic proportions,” the city’s Clif Penick told the paper. Mayor Walt Maddox said the opening date will be determined in February or March. The opening is tentatively expected in August or September.

Because the amphitheatre is being constructed atop a former landfill, there are issues with saturation from all that rain, according to the paper.

“The old garbage dump is kind of a suspended, fluid mass; it’s capped, but it’s always going to be down there,” Penick told the News. “So, we’re putting in a liquid boot vapor barrier that actually captures any stray methane that might get trapped, pipes it off and sends it up into the atmosphere.” The collector system “sucks it out like a big Shop-Vac.”

But in order to finish up the boot system, the ground must be dry – and that’s going to require at least a week without precipitation. And Mother Nature’s been less than cooperative.

Meanwhile, Red Mountain Entertainment, which will book and manage the facility, is being kept in the loop on possible delays, “so they don’t book some act and come here and we’ve still got a big mud hole,” Penick told the paper.