Red Rocks Amphitheater
The Project
Red Rock Amphitheater is a historic and iconic open-air music venue built in the 1930’s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. After almost 75 years of operation and maintenance the lower portion of the Amphitheatre seating had experienced settlement resulting in pour drainage as well as a less than desired appearance of the seating area. The repair design required the seating in south half of rows 1-18 to be removed and replaced with cast in place concrete benches supported by micropiles.
The overlying challenge with this project was a very strict construction schedule to avoid conflict with scheduled events and a non-negotiable, fully complete project, set for sunrise service on Easter Sunday 2019. This meant winter conditions using limited access equipment to minimize the impacts of construction on the still open to visitors amphitheater. Add in challenging drilling conditions through existing questionable fill which consisted of rocks, cobbles, and boulders before reaching solid sandstone. Working closely with Mark Young Construction (MYC), we were able to mobilize limited access drilling equipment to install all of the micropiles prior to removing any of the existing structure. MYC was then able to follow closely behind our drills and systematically remove and reconstruct each row of seating without exposing the entire construction area at once.
