POTTSVILLE -- Some drivers in Schuylkill County returning to work this Monday had to find a new place to park. A parking garage in downtown Pottsville was declared unsafe on Friday and is closed indefinitely.
Engineers have some serious concerns about the structural integrity of that garage, one even saying if the garage were loaded with cars, it would likely be a matter of time before one of the decks collapsed.
The popular parking garage on Mahantango Street usually has more than 100 cars parked there. Now it's empty and closed indefinitely.
Brad Dixon manages the parking authority and spent the morning funneling those who usually park in the Mahantango Street parking garage to a lot a few blocks away.
"I can say they were all very accommodating and understanding and appreciative that we're being proactive rather than waiting until something were to occur and then being too late for something, heaven forbid," said Dixon.
The sudden change for people who work in the area comes after engineers with the city's parking authority realized the nearly 50-year-old garage has a potentially serious structural issue.
Essentially, some of the cables that hold the slabs of concrete together in the garage are deteriorating.
Engineers who assessed this garage say they were lucky to find out about the condition it is in. One engineer called it a ticking time bomb.
"Unfortunately, when you do see deck failures throughout the country, they are catastrophic. The nature of a deck failure is there is usually little or no warning," said parking authority engineer John Levkulic.
The only reason the city found out about the structural issues is that crews were getting ready to start a $300,000 renovation project.
Now the city has to decide if the garage can be salvaged.
"(It's like) the new car scenario," said Levkulic. "You have a car that you have been fixing it every year, or every month. Sooner or later, you have to make a decision. Do I keep throwing money to try and fix my old car or do I make the decision to buy a new car?"
The mayor of Pottsville, city council, and engineers are expected to meet Friday night to figure whether to rebuild or replace the old parking garage.