Northwest Steel Erection was selected as the steel erector for the new video board at Iowa State University's Jack Trice Stadium. This new video board was 180' long, 40' tall, and 15' deep. The structure had to span overtop the existing Jacobsen Buliding. To minimize interruptions to the Iowa State Athletic Department the construction team decided to bulid the entire horizontal structure on the ground and erect one large piece. This meant erecting essentially a small 4-story building and then picking it up over top another building. Once the structure was assembled and the verticle towers in place, the team prepared to hoist the larger truss.

To hoist the truss, Northwest Steel Erection utilized the 2 largest cranes in the Crane Rental & Rigging fleet. This included a 600ton and 500ton crane. Each crane would be attached to both sides of the truss and hoist it into place. The critical lift of 360,000lbs would need to be done at a time when there was no wind at the stadium. To accommodate this restriction the construction team elected to erect the truss at night. Northwest Steel and Crane Rental & Rigging worked through the night to erect this large structure safely.

The planning for the project included a detailed criticle lift. This lift plan included CAD drawings for exact crane placement, analysis of the rigging and attachments, soil bearing analysis for the outriggers, and calculations of the actual weight of the truss. Northwest Steel also utilized Linkbelt's 3-D Lift plan software to analyze and demonstrate how the lift would be made.

This was a very high profile, exciting, and successful project for Northwest Steel. The planning and work of the construction team and the crews that made it happen made this a successful project. The construction team consisted of Iowa State University (Owner), Daktronics (video Board supply/design), The Weitz Co. (General Contractor), Weitz CPD (Steel Fabricator), Rhaker Rhoads Engineering (Structural engineer), and Northwest Steel. Northwest Steel had a hardworking dedicated crew on this project. Their hard work and dedication to make this project successful was very much appreciated. The crew consisted of Chad Welch (superintendent), Brian Bissell, Derek Weed, Ed kennedy, and Mitch Norris.

Click here to view a time lapse video of the scoreboard being erected.