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What happens when the paint peels off Beta Bridge?
What happens when the paint peels off Beta Bridge?
Left: Students often paint Beta Bridge with messages daily; sometimes all that paint grows too heavy and peels off. Right: Layers of paint left after the latest slab fell off in August. (UVA Facilities Management; Sanjay Suchak, University Communications)
October 01, 2020 Matt Kelly, mkelly@virginia.edu
It is much easier to add paint to Beta Bridge than to take it off.
On Aug. 22, a pliable, multi-colored slab of paint – single layer upon single layer about 4 inches thick – peeled off the west side of the Rugby Road bridge, blocking the sidewalk. The peeled paint was reported at 5:40 a.m. and University of Virginia Facilities Management staff had cleared it by 9:30 a.m. That is no small feat.
“I would put the weight in the 500-pound range, and it required a bucket loader to pick it up,” Rich Hopkins, landscape superintendent, said. “It took three guys about an hour and a half from the time they got on site to when they were leaving to clean the sidewalk. The guys basically scooped it up as a pile and loaded it onto a truck.”
While the paint peeled off the bridge frame, it did not expose the original concrete – there are still layers and layers of messages, painted by student groups from years past. Students often paint the bridge daily, with messages about clubs or causes, birthday wishes or other slogans.
{snip}
Left: Students often paint Beta Bridge with messages daily; sometimes all that paint grows too heavy and peels off. Right: Layers of paint left after the latest slab fell off in August. (UVA Facilities Management; Sanjay Suchak, University Communications)
October 01, 2020 Matt Kelly, mkelly@virginia.edu
It is much easier to add paint to Beta Bridge than to take it off.
On Aug. 22, a pliable, multi-colored slab of paint – single layer upon single layer about 4 inches thick – peeled off the west side of the Rugby Road bridge, blocking the sidewalk. The peeled paint was reported at 5:40 a.m. and University of Virginia Facilities Management staff had cleared it by 9:30 a.m. That is no small feat.
“I would put the weight in the 500-pound range, and it required a bucket loader to pick it up,” Rich Hopkins, landscape superintendent, said. “It took three guys about an hour and a half from the time they got on site to when they were leaving to clean the sidewalk. The guys basically scooped it up as a pile and loaded it onto a truck.”
While the paint peeled off the bridge frame, it did not expose the original concrete – there are still layers and layers of messages, painted by student groups from years past. Students often paint the bridge daily, with messages about clubs or causes, birthday wishes or other slogans.
{snip}