Photo by Aila Boyd
By Aila Boyd
aboyd@mainstreetnewspapers.com
Last Friday was a momentous day for the new Colonial Elementary School project. The start of work on the actual school building commenced when crews from G&H Contracting started pouring concrete for the footers at the Murray Drive site.
The footers were poured for the classroom area that is called “Area B.”
Jim Whitten, the capital projects manager for Botetourt County, said that he’s hopeful that the 12-to-16-month timeline for the school will hold up, which places the potential opening of the school sometime next fall.
“We’re saving a lot of time,” he said. “I’m still hopeful that we can get it done in 12 months, but that’s only if the weather holds out.”
Whitten described G&H Contracting as being a “good company” that “works fast.”
G&H’s Donald Gibson is serving as the foreman on the project.
“He knows what he’s doing,” Whitten said of Gibson.
As Gibson’s work progresses, masons will start blocking on top of the foundation.
“When you have wide-open footers, you can just back the truck right up and pour,” he said.
The 200-foot footer than was done on Friday took three tuck loads of concrete.
Whitten said that the process of placing the footers has been smooth sailing thus far. “They dig, I inspect it, and then they pour,” he said. “There’s one truck of concrete after another coming.”
The “Area B” footing was completed within less than 24 hours.
The entire site is now sitting at subgrade, which means that it’s ready for the stone and asphalt to be placed.
“This site is ready to go,” Whitten said.
