State Capitol is falling apart

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A steel-covered walkway is being installed at the State Capitol to protect visitors from getting plunked in the head by mortar chunks falling off the 86-year-old building.

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The state doesn’t have the $40 million to $60 million necessary to fix the disintegrating mortar and fixtures that hold about 8,500 limestone panels, each weighing more than a ton, to the steel skeleton of the 34-story building. So, the plan is to erect what officially is called a “temporary protective structure” that will shelter visitors from falling building bits.

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Construction was completed in March 1931 and the building was dedicated May 16, 1932. Little maintenance has been done since, Berry said.

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For more than a decade state government has had trouble raising enough revenues to pay the bills. With appropriations routinely cut, agencies postponed maintenance on state buildings and used that money to cover other expenses. The state’s colleges and universities, for instance, have nearly $2 billion of deferred maintenance projects, such as roofs that need to be replaced, classrooms that need to be cooled, and leaks that need to be stopped in libraries.

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Gov. John Bel Edwards recommended setting aside about 13 percent of this year’s construction budget for doing delayed fix ups on college campuses and in state buildings. The “temporary protective structure,” which doesn’t really fit in with the State Capitol’s art deco motif, can stay in place up to five years under the rules that govern National Historic Landmarks.

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