Linn-Mar Stadium, Why Pay More?
So, the Linn-Mar School Board wants to throw more money into the already $10 million stadium. Why Pay More? Well, because they made the wrong choice and are embarrassed by all the problems it has caused.Â
What was the wrong choice? Not doing their due diligence in the way of research. They turned down the lowest bidder simply because the contractor had proposed an asphalt parking lot. Instead, the school board approved a bid that was $110,000 more expensive! The winning bid, proposed by RDG Planning & Design, was a concrete parking lot and the board thought it was a superior pavement. Clearly, they were wrong.
The school board’s unwillingness to research the pros and con of each pavement type resulted in a concrete parking lot with water drainage problems and “concrete cracks with water seeping out of them” (The Gazette). What an embarrassment. Perhaps they should have gone with the asphalt contractor (the lowest bidder) or a porous asphalt pavement. Porous asphalt allows water to drain through the pavement surface and infiltrate into the soil below. It’s cost-effective and provides a storm-water management system that promotes infiltration, improves water quality, and many times eliminates the need for a detention basin. Here’s a picture that shows the difference when it rains between a conventional pavement (left) and a porous asphalt pavement (right). I’m guessing the stadium parking lot looks something like left side of this picture.
Image courtesy of NAPA
 So, why pay more? If research had been done, then the lowest bidder would have won the contract and the stadium wouldn’t have turned into such an expensive embarrassment. If the parking lot was an asphalt pavement then I wouldn’t have to ask, why pay more? And tax payers wouldn’t be shelling out an additional $55,000 more in repairs. Lesson to be learned: Do your research. That parking lot should have been done in porous asphalt.
**I’ve added a video from Bryne & Jones of St. Louis testing the effectiveness of porous asphalt.Â
Need more proof that porous asphalt should have been the pavement of choice for the Linn-Mar Stadium? Go online and search “porous asphalt videos”. You’ll find a vast selection of good videos to watch.
