The arrival of the new year should bring a flurry of work to the construction sites of Joplin’s newest schools.
“We’re to that point now where things are really going to start popping,” said Mike Johnson, director of construction for the Joplin School District.
The East Middle School and related elementary school project is “moving along fast,” Johnson said. All footings and a portion of the concrete slabs are complete, and most of the under-slab mechanical systems are in place, he said.
Concrete walls for the gymnasiums have been poured and are going up. Crews also have begun putting up structural steel, which was delivered to the site earlier this month.
“It looks like a beehive when the workers are in full production,” Johnson said.
Construction crews at Irving Elementary School have completed slabs and mechanical systems on the southern end of the property and are working their way northward, Johnson said.
Structural steel also has arrived at the site and will likely go up soon, he said.
“You’ll start seeing steel erected any day on the south end,” he said. “It’s ready to really start showing progress.”
Work at the Joplin High School and Franklin Technology Center site is progressing, although it remains less visible to passers-by.
School district officials opened bids just before Christmas for plumbing, electrical, heating, cooling and electronic security systems, and they hope to present those to the Board of Education next month, Johnson said.
The excavation of the site is complete, with retaining walls for a drainage ditch being built around 24th Street and Indiana Avenue, he said.
The old mine shafts uncovered on the property last month have been capped, meaning that work on foundations, footings and the drilling of piers by Neosho-based Branco Enterprises Inc. could begin any day, Johnson said.
“They were mobilizing just before Christmas break to go into full production today,” he said on Wednesday.
Johnson said structural steel has been ordered and is scheduled to arrive once the foundations and piers are complete.
Meanwhile, district officials have received and are reviewing completed drawings of the high school building from Corner, Greer and Associates, of Joplin.
“That’s kind of a milestone, getting those finalized drawings,” Johnson said.
Completion dates
IRVING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, East Middle School and the elementary school at East are scheduled to open in December 2013. Joplin High School and Franklin Technology Center are projected to open in August 2014.
May 2011 Joplin tornado
Steel work under way at two Joplin school sites
- May 2011 Joplin tornado
-
-
Federal, state leaders salute Joplin’s recovery
A deadly May twister may have punched a hole in Joplin and Duquesne two years ago, but the resolve to repair it will help other communities stand strong when they face similar disasters. That was the message of state and national diginitaries to a crowd of about 2,500 who observed the second anniversary of Joplin’s devastating May 22, 2011, storm during a ceremony Wednesday in Cunningham Park.
-
SLIDESHOW: One year later, One day of unity, updated
Photos from a day of events commemorating the May 22, 2011 tornado anniversary
-
Banner from Joplin to be sent to Moore residents
A giant vinyl banner adorned with heartfelt messages from Joplin tornado survivors to the residents of Moore, Okla., became a centerpiece of Wednesday’s observance of the two-year anniversary of the May 22, 2011, tornado.
-
Rick Rescorla award named for hero of Vietnam War, 9-11 terror attacks
The Rick Rescorla National Award for Resilience is named for a 62-year-old vice president of security for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. who directed an evacuation of the company’s 2,700-person workforce in the South Tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2011.
-
Community gearing up for two-year anniversary ceremony this afternoon
With the playground full of children, it could be any other day at Joplin’s Cunningham Park, but the white tents popping up and neat rows of white chairs lined up nearby indicate something more is happening today.
-
Farmers Insurance teams up with Rebuild Joplin
Farmers Insurance announced Tuesday that the company will team up with Rebuild Joplin for an initiative to help the community complete its recovery efforts. The company already has placed one of its executives in Joplin, and it is pledging additional funds and volunteer hours by company workers to go toward the city’s recovery.
-
Joplin man continues struggle to recover two years after tornado
As the Joplin tornado passed overhead, sweeping the house at 2430 S. Pennsylvania Ave. away in its wake, there was a moment of calm. Delbert Mcguirk was on his back in the basement, where he had sought shelter along with his wife, daughter and two grandchildren. In that moment of relative quiet, he stared up into the eye of the tornado.
-
Storms cause damage throughout the Four States
Four-State Area residents hunkered down twice Monday to ride out tornadoes and powerful spring storms, then went to work cleaning up. The worst damage from Monday night’s storm was being reported in Ottawa County, Okla., near Wyandotte. That followed a report of an EF-1 tornado early Monday morning near Carthage.
-
Two plead guilty to post-tornado wire theft
Two defendants pleaded guilty Monday to stealing copper wire from utility poles in the wake of the May 22, 2011, tornado that struck Joplin. Timothy M. Silveria, 45, of Joplin, and Nycoa K. Kracht, 32, of Laurel, Ind., entered open pleas of guilty in Jasper County Circuit Court to felony counts of theft from a public utility.
-
FACES OF RECOVERY: 176,869 volunteers help put Joplin together again
They initially came in droves, pouring into Joplin by the thousands during the months following the May 2011 tornado to clear debris, clean up damaged homes and businesses and distribute donations of food, water, clothing and other necessities.
- More May 2011 Joplin tornado Headlines
-
