Nationals Park by the Numbers
| Location: |
South Capitol Street and N Street, SE, Washington, D.C. |
Broke
Ground: |
May 4, 2006 |
| Opened: |
March 29, 2008 (exhibition)
March 30, 2008 (Opening Day) |
| Owner: |
D.C. Sports & Entertainment Commission (DCSEC) |
| Surface: |
Grass |
Construction
Cost: |
$611 million |
| Architect: |
HOK Sport, Devrouax & Purnell Architects — Planners |
| Capacity: |
41,222 |
Field
Dimensions |
Left Field — 332 ft (101.2 m)
Left-Center — 364 ft (110.9 m)
Left-Center (deep) — 370 ft (112.8 m)
Center Field — 409 ft (124.7 m)
Right-Center — 377 ft (114.9 m)
Right Field — 335 ft (102.1 m) |
• The park will feature 66 luxury suites and several restaurants, including The Oval Office Bar.
• A grove of cherry blossoms has been planted beyond the left-fi eld bleachers.
• The Nationals also have plans to erect three statues in the ballpark, honoring Walter Johnson of the original Washington Senators, Frank Howard of the expansion Senators and Josh Gibson of the Negro League Homestead Grays, which played many of its games in Washington.
• Pope Benedict XVI is expected to celebrate mass in Nationals Park in April 2008.
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Among the crowd-pleasing events at the new park will be the Racing Presidents. Hopefully
Randall Simon doesn’t take out George Washington with his bat. Photo courtesy of Jeff Saffelle |
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After conducting extensive soil samples in the area of the drive, Anchor turned to Texas-based Tenbusch to purchase its first microtunnel boring machine (MTBM) and the appropriate casing.
“They were on site with us for three days,” Odom says. “They set up the machine and trained our crews.” He adds that his crew was quick to pick up on operating the MTBM thanks to the consultants from Tenbusch, as well as the flexibility of the crew on site.
“We decided to go ahead and purchase the machine,” says Henry Osborne, a member of Ancor’s board of directors. “Having an MTBM expands the kinds of jobs we can take on.”
Even if getting the machine set was relatively headache free, an additional complication was posed by the depth of the drive. At 19 ½ ft below the surface, the drive was uncomfortably close to the top of the Metro easement (the boundary that extends in all directions from the underground train passage through the city).
Indeed, once the machine was underway, it made quick work of the 140-lf drive beneath the street, pushing and placing 18-in. PVC pipe.
“One benefit with the microtunneling that we might not have had with other methods is that the MTBM has four hydraulic jacks that allow it to be steered very precisely,” Odom explains. “We sighted the bore path initially with laser, but as we progressed, any deviation from the path was correctable.”
Armed with the willingness to approach a difficult situation in a new way, the wisdom to consult with professionals outside its area of expertise and flexible enough to adapt to the new solution, Anchor pushed on beneath M Street and through the rest of the project.
As roaring crowds fill Nationals Park to root-root-root for the home team, Odom looks back on the project with great pride. “What impressed me the most were the individual crews,” he says. “As I mentioned earlier, our guys deserve all of the credit for our involvement in this project. But more than that, the other contractors all had similarly tight schedules.
Any number of crews would have to occupy the same
space to get their own work done on time.”
He pauses. “I think all of the crews pushed each other, chal
lenged each other. Ultimately, we all came together and I think everyone involved in the project is proud to have been a part of it.”
Greg Thompson is a contributing editor to Utility Contractor.
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