Passage opening slips to December

Key tests on the Passage's new lighting system and water features will take place after Thanksgiving, likely sliding the reopening of the attraction to December, officials said.

"In December it should be open for the public to walk through, to use again," architect Vance Travis, who is overseeing the reconstruction of the waterfront monument, said Thursday.

The reopening of the Passage -- which is having about $1.5 million in repairs done -- was originally slated for last summer, but delays have set back the work.

"It's moving along," said Steve Leach, the city's public works administrator. "We want to get it right. We're going to get it back safe."

Tests of the lighting and water elements of the attraction -- a memorial to Cherokee Indians -- are expected to be done the week after Thanksgiving, he said.

Plans are to gather city officials and others to view a new and improved lighting system that runs both with and without water, Mr. Travis said.

But water pumps won't be turned on for the public until the spring, he added.

Mr. Leach said the repair work is still within the projected $1.5 million budget.

The Passage, which opened in 2005, originally cost about $2 million to build.

The repairs have spurred a lawsuit by the city against the project's original overseer, RiverCity Co., the Passage's architects, Hargreaves Associates Inc., and contractor Continental Construction Co.

The suit sparked a counterclaim from the defendants, who said the city didn't give adequate time to fix structural and code problems.

Problems with the Passage, part of the 21st Century Waterfront Project, started occurring shortly after its opening, including falling tiles, cracks and improperly grounded electrical lighting, officials said.

Other problems, such as cracking and uneven settling, also have shown up in the Waterfront Project's concrete along the Tennessee River. Plans are to take on those issues after the Passage is repaired, officials have said.