Construction Change Triggered Collapse

The faulty installation of concrete floors done after cost- and timesaving design changes were made triggered the deadly collapse of a Tropicana Casino and Resort garage during construction, according to a published report.

Connections of prefabricated steel reinforcement rods and a beam in garage floors to six key outer columns left the structure in a sorely unstable condition, The New York Times reported Sunday, citing engineers for the contractor and others who studied the designs and debris.

The collapse killed four workers and injured 20 others when the top five floors of the 10-story, 2,700-space structure caved during an Oct. 30 concrete pour on the top floor.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is due to release its findings on the accident Friday. The Atlantic County prosecutor said a criminal inquiry of the collapse has been started.

Officials with Egg Harbor Township-based Fabi Construction Co., which was overseeing construction of the concrete floors, declined comment to the newspaper about the accident's cause.

General contractor Keating Building Corp. of Philadelphia and Aztar Corp., the Phoenix-based owner of Tropicana, also declined to discuss details of the collapse. Keating did release a statement saying, "Every decision made was intended to deliver the highest quality product possible."

Last week, Fabi went to court, complaining significant evidence is being destroyed because of demolition of the garage's remains, despite agreed-upon protocols for dismantling the structure.

Unlike some demolition projects, the Tropicana's must tiptoe between debris removal and the preservation of evidence that might help explain what caused the collapse.

According to the newspaper, at least four engineers who have examined debris collected from the site -- including the engineer who originally designed the structure -- said key steel connections were lacking, making it impossible to shoulder the staggering weight of the concrete floors.

The engineers also suspect there was insufficient shoring of just-poured floors, something laborers at the site had complained about weeks before the collapse.

"There is no visual evidence of the expected reinforcement between the slab and the columns," said W. Gene Corley, a structural engineer who led investigations into collapses at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City and the World Trade Center. Corley is now an expert representing victims of the Tropicana collapse.

Initially, on the lower levels, ironworkers threaded reinforcing steel rods from the concrete floor slab into the six columns at the edge of the garage.

Under the revisions, prefabricated 8-foot-wide, cage-like mats were substituted for the rods, and an underlying support beam was made wider but shallower.

Stephen V. DeSimone, president of Manhattan-based DeSimone Consulting Engineers, the structural engineer on the project, said he believes the problem occurred in the execution of the design, not the design itself.

DeSimone said the design revision was supposed to save time and money. Disputing that, Keating in its statement said the project was on time and on budget. Officials with Fabi have said a snowy 2002-03 winter in Atlantic City forced the project to start late.

The garage was a part of a project that included an expanded casino and entertainment, restaurant and retail complex aimed at giving Atlantic City a more Las Vegas-flavored draw.

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Author: NBC10/AP