After several social media posters uploaded photos of what looked to be concrete debris underneath the city's Water Street parking deck recently, the public works department and the city posted to the official Harrisonburg city goverment Facebook page with an explanation.
"We have heard some questions today about our Water Street parking deck and wanted to provide more information. This is a general maintenance need and not a safety issue in any way. Decks like these are built with spaces like what you see in the photo to allow for expansion of concrete beams during the summer months. It’s the same reason you see spaces in between sections of sidewalk. If you don’t have spaces like these built in, the deck would expand into itself and over time this would damage the concrete beams. Typically, that space is filled with a pliable expansion material and covered with a thin layer of concrete to protect and seal the expansion material. In this case, the thin layer of concrete broke, which caused it to fall onto the lower level, and the expansion material was comprised. Public Works staff will be scheduling the repair to this area in the coming weeks. In the meantime, the parking deck is safe to drive on and poses no concerns to the public."
Photo: Getty Images