PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A Center City parking garage with crumbling concrete ceilings is raising concerns among people who park there.
However, the Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections inspected the site Thursday and insists work is being done appropriately.
L&I says the Philadelphia Parking Authority garage at South 10th and Ludlow streets is having concrete repairs done on several levels of the multi-story structure.
L&I’s Karen Guss said work is following building codes and being monitored by an on-site engineer.
Dr. Abi Aghayere, a professor of civil engineering at Drexel, looked at a number of photos of the work.
“I see that they're fixing the parking garage, but I also see that it was a structure, a horizontal member that was really heavily deteriorated that I don't see the shoring, because typically when a structure is that heavily deteriorated, you will shore up the structure," said Agahayere.
"In one case I saw this shoring, there's a post, a steel post, that's holding up one of the beams."
Aghayere said, however, that he is basing his observation on photos. But he adds those photos still show a lot of crumbling concrete and exposed wire and rebar.
“I would also be worried about the fact that it is deteriorated and a lot of the concrete has fallen off of the structure, and there's nothing stopping concrete from falling on someone if people are able to walk underneath that particular girder," he said.
“They could cordon it off, that area, just so that the possibility of debris falling on people's, someone below is greatly reduced, and it has happened. There are situations where debris have fallen on people, and people have been killed or injured as a result of falling concrete.”
Netting covers some, but not all, of the crumbling concrete on the third and fourth floors of the parking garage.
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At least one customer has opted to move to another garage because he believes the crumbling concrete could fall on vehicles or people, and cause some serious damages.
“Parking garages to me are like bridges, but they are not inspected like bridges, and there's no regulation...or laws saying that owners have to inspect the parking garages," said Aghayere.
“Parking structures should have mandated inspections, so that they can keep up with whatever is happening with the structure. I know that some property managers have parking garages they do that right now, and the National Parking Association recommends inspections, structural inspections, once every two to three years.”