NVR2L8

Lost River Cave is less than a mile from my house. My daughter was a tour guide there when she was in college. It is very normal that the cave is closed after big rains. Most all of the caves in this region can be very dangerous after large rainfall, as the water in the caves rises very fast.

Lost River, which comes into the Lost River Cave, is known as the deepest underground river in the world, also known as a "blue hole". On a side note, the local legend is that the Jesse James Gang hid out at Lost River Cave after robbing a bank about 30 miles west of there (Russellville, KY).

General Motors made the announcement yesterday that they will retrieve all the cars, and restore them at their facility in Warren, MI that maintains their cars at the Heritage Center. This effort will be led by Ed Wilburn.

At this point, as mentioned by SR Joe, no one knows all the answers, and only time will tell. I am very confident, however, that brighter days are ahead for the museum. We will not allow this isolated event to define us as a victim, but rather as an opportunity to show how resilient and committed the folks at the museum (and the Corvette community) truly are.

DALE#3

Holy BAT CAVE,BATMAN..Yup a couple loads of stone will tighten that up.Yup underestimated.Taking the roof of to hoist a couple of cars seen would be the least of their goals.It was stated here where is the crane going to be guaranteed to be safe and stable.Cars aren't heavy so crane size will be determined on reach and pick distances to dome to stable ground.Ok where is that?I witnessed and was part of the big dig in Boston.Crazy engineered h-ways floated and sunk,freezing ground to support about 10 live rail tracks so 6 lanes of road could be jacked underneath.It's all about $$$$.That new floor will have to be made into a bridge type construction for liability.The floor will have to be spanned.OK were do the piers go.All done under a canopy?It's not going to be easy.Forum is probably sick of people ranting.OK Good bye.

Rad22

The only thing I fear is in a quote used by my daughter's Environmental Science professor at NC State:

"Nature always bats last."

That said, I sincerely hope everything turns out well.

I stayed with Mr. Strode and his wife at their B&B back in September when I picked up my car and visited with them in their home with my son. He is as fine a person as I have met and I know in my heart that if anyone has the background, wisdom and ability to pull together the right resources and minds to come back from this it would be him.

Good luck Wendell...my thoughts and prayers are with you.

SteveMcGuire

One thing for sure this is a fascinating natural phenomena and I'm really enjoying the technical commentary in this thread. This will no doubt be ongoing for some time to come. Just glad no one got hurt.

cor28vettes

Hey, why mess with Mother Nature. Make it a side show tourist attraction, esp given the free worldwide press this has gotten.

Skid Row Joe

Those of us in architecture and contracting/construction have a really good grasp on exactly what you're writing here. The known unknowns are what is any engineering and contracting companies are going to up against in even retrieving the cars that can be latched on to here. Excellent Q; where would the crane be safe in doing the retrieval? If the bridge gap is spanned by girders, where is the beginning and end points? I believe it will take a lot more engineering studies, I'm afraid. Until we learn more about the geology of this specific site, not even those simple Qs can be answered......


Don't know if they're into this type of work, but, PKS, Peter Kiewit Sons, Omaha, NE. worldwide contracting in earthmoving and mining operations sound like a company that might have a handle on what's going on/expected here - and perhaps experienced in this type of project.

prinzSD455

In this video of the collapse, is the gold car that goes first into the hell pit the 1993 ZR1 "Spyder" or the 1984 PPG Pace car? I don't recognize that car and have not been to the museum.

Four of the 8 cars were C4s...ouch

DALE#3

Appreciate the Doing it right will take time.Can't understand a deadline already.Could be a big challenge?Especially engineering like you said and $$$$$.My brother has been traveling with KIEWIT doing a couple cooling tower stacks.They froze the ground in Boston for that h-way.Their engineers must eat alot of fish?Very smart and capable.Another thought:It may be cheaper to move the canopy hopefully on site to a defiantly fully TESTED area.The liability these days..Especially open to the public may kill a backfill and repair.Guess it all depends on the bottom of that cave and the big deciding factor again $$$$$$$

DALE#3

I went on the off topic page on the main forum here and read alot about this thread their.To make a disaster funny?Over there the c4 corvettes should be used as backfill? Not knocking your liking of them,the entertaining factor over there is pretty comical.Check it out:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/off-...post1586177568

Skid Row Joe

There's been quite a number of brainiacs work for Kiewit Construction over the decades. That's a high compliment! I'm glad to hear your Brother and you are aware of their expertise. They EARN their money with good people as employees. The Corvette building now have an opportunity to put together the greatest minds available in America to solve their engineering and construction design needs in BG. I am frankly alarmed that they're continuing business as usual, including public foot traffic just feet away from such a calamity. I don't understand that, when knowing the voids that already exist under there.

DALE#3

Check out the photo in the link.After looking at photo i'm with ya.But i'm not their and i don't have a stamp.If you know what i mean.Check the bottom of that spire photo.Footing??????LEAN!!!!:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/off-...post1586177568

prinzSD455

I know what you mean. In off topic a C4 owner needs some very thick skin to lurk their. Still it is very entertaining.

DALE#3

Yea buddy! So you know how it is on THE OTHER SIDE

R23HTC

It's the PPG Pace Car. The 1993 ZR1 Spyder was sitting on a rack above the 1962 car I believe. From the security footage of when it first happened, it appears the PPG Pace car and the 1.5m were the 1st to go in, and are probably under the rest.

PaulB

In all the different websites I have watched the collapse on I have never seen anything other than when the first 2 Corvettes went down into the sinkhole. Are there any other videos from that camera or any other camera that shows the rest of the cars going down specifically the Blue Devil/ZR1. I just get the feeling that I am mising something. If I missed this somewhere my apoligies for asking.

Rad22

I've noticed that as well. I suspect that the security cameras may have gone off-line with the first collapse. On several of the still images, there appears to be a conduit with a number of loose wires hanging from it. It could just be that there is no footage after the initial collapse.

savageone

yeah,,u know I kinda noticed that too

DALE#3

Yes it has been discussed a couple pages back.

Highway 61

I don't think the 1992 white 1 Millionth and the 2009 white 1.5 Millionth Corvettes should be repaired and displayed as is.

Doug Harden

My guess is that they used "Fibermesh", which is a stranded fiberglass (how appropriate) that is mixed with the concrete to form, what some of us think is a stronger slab than a 6x6 10/10 woven wire mesh slab...more micro reinforcement than a 10 guage wire every 6". Unless there was some reason to make the slab a more reinforced, self supporting slab, usually using #4 rebar at 12" - 24" on centers; this is an acceptable method for typical slab reinforcement.

All of this would be dependent upon the Geotechnical report....