What are they digging for at Sage Library?

It looked like a mighty big hole in front of the building

June 14, 2003
By: Stephen Kent

Perhaps you noticed the heavy equipment digging up the front of the Sage Branch Library over the past couple of weeks. If you looked closer you may also have noticed the ladders going down into the excavation. It sure seemed to be a big hole!

Being curious, I stopped to ask the construction workers what was going on. The answer is that it's ground work for the new front entrance, which will include a wheelchair ramp, stairs, retaining walls and planters. I was also told that it's a very challenging concret construction with complex radius and elevation requirements.

The reason that the hole seems so deep is that the footings must go well below the frost line. In this area that's at least four feet. Up close the excavation doesn't seem quite so deep, but it's still a lot of digging.


Artist rendering compliments of the Bay County Library web site.