Engineers are scrutinizing areas of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center that are built like the section that collapsed earlier this week, an official said Thursday.
The sections "have the same pattern and they're going to look at those spots," said state Sen. Wayne Fontana, D-Brookline, a member of the city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority, which owns the building.
A 20-by-60-foot slab of concrete and a steel beam on the second-floor loading dock collapsed Monday afternoon, crashing onto 10th Street and wedging a tractor-trailer in the breach. Investigators appear to be focusing on the expansion joint running above the street -- the same spot where a foundation shift in 2001 caused construction delays, officials have said.
Cleveland-based Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates began an independent investigation yesterday. Leslie E. Robertson Associates, of New York, will conduct a separate review of the design team's work starting Sunday, said SEA Executive Director Mary Conturo.
The results of those inspections will not be available until next week, Conturo said.
Fifteen lines of support columns form the framework supporting the convention center. The beam that fell connected the ninth and 10th column lines. The expansion joint at the ninth line is designed to allow the building to expand and contract.
Some of the sections built similarly to the one that collapsed run beneath the same loading dock, Fontana said. The welding and bolts used to connect the beams are being looked at carefully, he said.
"It's because of the appearance of the hookup between the middle beam and the supports that look the same like where the defect was," he said.
Ron Graziano, Pittsburgh's chief building inspector, said the fallen beam did not rest on a support column, but was bolted and welded to other beams.
Recent cold weather might have contributed to the collapse, Fontana said. However, Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato said Wednesday he did not believe cold weather is to blame.
Organizers of the 2007 Pittsburgh International Auto Show hope to reschedule the event in the spring, said show chairman Jim Smail. The show was to begin Saturday.
The Greater Pittsburgh Automobile Dealers Association announced last night they plan to hold the show April 26-30, but that final approval must come from the Sports & Exhibition Authority.
Its cancellation could mean a loss of $2.7 million for the local economy, including $160,000 in tax revenues, according to the SEA. Nearly 73,000 people attended the event in 2005.
"Of utmost importance to the (authority) board was safety and not wanting to put anybody at risk," Conturo said. "This was the only way to ensure that."
Rescheduling the show in April depends on manufacturers agreeing to participate, Smail said.
Three more events scheduled through Feb. 22 have been moved to other Downtown venues:
• Creative Memories, a scrapbooking group with about 800 people, will move to the Westin Convention Center Hotel and the Omni William Penn Hotel for its event this weekend.
• The Learning Disabilities Association of America, with about 2,000 people expected to meet Tuesday through Feb. 17 for its national convention, will move to the Westin and the Pittsburgh Hilton and Towers.
• A private pharmaceutical meeting of about 800 people will take place Feb. 20-22 at the Westin.
None of the 12 groups scheduled to use the convention center through April has canceled, said Beverly Morrow-Jones, spokeswoman for VisitPittsburgh, the city's tourism bureau.
"We're still communicating with our customers," she said.
Staff writer Andrew Conte contributed to this report.
Larger text
Smaller text
Print this article
E-mail this article
