PEA RIDGE — Two construction crews alternate working spaces as metal crews alternate with block crews erecting the new Pea Ridge Intermediate School between the gymnasium and former classrooms.
“To stay on track, both jobs are going on,” Bobby Welsh, construction site manager for Baldwin Shell, said. “It’s kinda like Lego ... you start from the bottom and go up.”
“We’ve got two good construction superintendents,” Dr. Roland Smith, interim school superintendent, said, speaking of Welsh and Jan Albright, construction superintendent at the bus garage.
“I want to give the community and the school what they are paying for,” Welsh said.
A concrete block retaining wall was erected in front of the Head Start building to stabilize the area as the ground around was cut down several feet for the construction. A boulevard is being constructed as an entrance off North Curtis Avenue.
Concrete slabs, 4 inches thick, are placed as the ceiling for the hallway and the floor “mezzanine,” Welsh said, for the Heating Ventilation and Air units.
Everything is on time at this point, Welsh said.
The old building is being remodeled, new ceiling tiles inplace, walls painted.
The previous steps leading from one section of the former fifth- and sixthgrade classrooms to the lower area of the building have been replaced by a ramp and a handrail for the safety of the students andstaff.
Welsh said the school staff has been most cooperative. “Mrs. Sarah Stokes is great,” he said, of working while school is in session.
The building is scheduled to be completed in time for the 2012-2013 school year.
News, Pages 1 on 12/21/2011