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WPCNR THE PARKING NEWS. By John F. Bailey. May 23, 2008:  Separations, cracks in the caulks or welds connecting and supporting two concrete ramps  in the City Center garage on City Place were discovered by a Department of Parking employee Wednesday,  according to Commissioner of Parking, Albert Moroni.  Moroni  said the city closed off two ramps in the garage to vehicular traffic. However, all six levels of the garage remain open for parking,  and are safe Moroni said.

Moroni told WPCNR all joints and welds are now being inspected throughout the garage. “We happened to notice the caulking which is placed between the butting and concrete tees had come loose…and the material that holds the two tees together had been compromised. As a total precautionary measure, we closed off two of the ramps, the interior helix ramps to traffic Thursday. We’re looking into it to see what the fix is. I don’t anticipate it being anything of a structural issue. It’s just a fix of these few minor spots before they get worse.”

Moroni said there were literally thousands of these welds: “A very small percentage of them may have not  been bonded properly or whatever and we’re doing an assessment of it now to see how widespread it  (the condition) is. People can still traverse throughout the entire garage. One side of it is not fully open to them.”

 The actual distance between the buttings or tees,he said was less than two inches between the two joints, Moroni said. ‘The first thing we’re going to do repairs to what we see, what is obvious to us. It should take a couple of days. Once that’s done our evaluations should take another week. I do not see that it is going to be widespread at all.”