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court tower project adds escalators for $6.3 million
This is a reprint.
View the original article, "Court tower project adds escalators for $6.3 million" at the Arizona Republic website.
by Yvonne Wingett - Jun. 10, 2010
The Arizona Republic
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday agreed to spend $6.3 million to install escalators in the court-tower project under construction in downtown Phoenix.
The supervisors have huddled with construction and design officials over the past several months to consider whether they needed the escalators to link the new tower to existing court buildings. Project officials said the two escalators - one up, one down - were necessary because elevators are too packed with people.
"The current elevator system is already overloaded," said Abe Thomas, court-tower project executive.
"With the escalators, people will not have to wait in line with the (new) court tower. It's both for safety and convenience."
The escalator expenses will come from the $340 million already budgeted for the project. Officials said the court tower project is under budget because material and labor costs were lower than anticipated because of the recession.
Thomas said the project is about a third of the way done. Construction crews have topped out the 16-story court tower near First Avenue and Madison Street.
The tower will house 22 courtrooms when it's completed in less than two years, and another 10 will be shelled for future use.
