More Visible Evidence that The Good Old Days Are Gone For Good

Just how hollow is our mighty America nowadays? Check this.

It might cost over a billion to replace, due to the unique construction:

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_73704097-9a47-5d28-8eb1-0f5c76db8214.html

ST. LOUIS • Severe corrosion has continued inside the Gateway Arch with no significant effort to try to stop, fix or record it, according to newly released documents from the National Park Service.

Inside the base of the north leg, where water may have collected for long periods, workers fight the effect with the most basic of tools — a mop.

R. Craig Jerner, an expert metallurgist who reviewed the fresh documents for the Post-Dispatch, said he foresees the "distinct potential for a very big and expensive problem."

The newspaper first reported corrosion problems on Aug. 22, based on a cursory look at the 2006 "Gateway Arch Corrosion Investigation," a report that was withdrawn from public view the next day. It and some related documents have since been released under a Freedom of Information Act request.

None of the material suggests any short-term safety concern for the 630-foot monument to westward expansion that was completed on the downtown riverfront in 1965.

But corrosion has become obvious on the upper reaches of the stainless steel skin.

New photos of carbon steel inside the north leg, provided Wednesday by the park service, show orange and red rust that has been evident in other pictures since at least 2005.

Jerner, president of Dallas based J.E.I. Metallurgical Inc., said it is likely the same type of thing is happening with the carbon steel lining of the upper reaches. The report indicated that possible corrosion within the steel walls is bleeding through failed welds and staining the glimmering outside surface. Some of the corrosion at welds or at contaminated areas is taking place aggressively, according to the engineering documents.

But the corrosion's aggression and origin are hard to measure because of a lack of maintenance records, the report stated.

It had recommended the taking of periodic pictures to document the deterioration. But more than four years later, the park service has not done it.

"We are not photographing because the recommendations are preliminary and do not provide sufficient detail as to location, method, frequency, etc.," said an e-mail from Frank Mares, deputy superintendent of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, which oversees the Arch.

One report said that numbers scrawled on interior components suggest an earlier attempt to document corrosion, but there is no record of it. The same report notes that construction workers told current engineers that the Arch was designed to be maintenance-free.

Park officials said that a second phase of the corrosion investigation, which is expected to make recommendations on addressing the problem, was only recently funded and has not yet begun.

The first phase was conducted by two engineering firms, Bahr Vermeer Haecker, of Nebraska, and Wiss, Janney, Elstner, of Illinois. Both have declined to comment.

Officials provided current photographs of the north leg interior corners after a request from the Post-Dispatch.

"At the foot of the base section ... severe corrosion was found at two corners where water may have collected for prolonged periods," the 2006 report stated. It did not define "prolonged."

The new photos now show visible corrosion in the third corner of the leg.

Mares said maintenance workers are trying to keep the base of the interior legs dry. They use mops and a makeshift system of wicks and barrels to collect some of the water. No other repair work or cleaning has been done, he said.

He said that "at most it could be two or three days before staff would notice the water and mop it up." A mop is seen in one of the pictures.

The water is likely a byproduct of leaky welds and a unique Arch ecosystem that sometimes produces rain inside, according to the report.

Jerner, the metallurgist, warned, "Corrosion is much like a cancer. If you leave it alone, it will eat the steel up."

John R. Scully, an engineering professor at the University of Virginia, said: "Corrosion of carbon steel does not necessarily mean that structural integrity is threatened, but it could. The case would have to be developed in detail and then subjected to independent audit."

One of the park service reports speculated that it could take a "long time" before corrosion would "induce any integrity concern."

The report also recommended an "expensive" cleaning within 10 years but did not give a cost estimate. Indeed, an estimate may be difficult because there is no clear way to access the upper reaches of the unique structure's exterior.

"The designers of the Arch provided no means of exterior access for future maintenance," according to a 2010 Historic Structure Report. It mentioned the possible use of cranes, scaffolds, ropes or helicopters — all with possible drawbacks.

Officials said the structural issues and any possible cleaning are separate from — and would not compete for funding with — competing plans revealed last month to rebuild the Arch site in time for its 50th anniversary celebration in 2015.