JamminJ wrote:
Here's my two cents on the matter: I know a little about construction, and I, like many people here, have watched the construction of many coasters over the years. That said, I feel that the individual comparing it to a foundation probably is close to correct. The footer (assumedly) forms the base of the lift hill, and thus it will have to carry a lot of load. The four footings must also remain perfectly in square with each other for obvious reasons, so I believe that fact accounts for the "one large slab" method. Price also probably accounts for some of the decision, as it may be cheaper to pour one large footing in hard clay than drill four separate, deeper footings. If you look closely at it, you can still see rebar poking out of the top of the footing. I believe that the remaining rebar will be for formed pours to form the actual footers that the coaster will sit on, because the part that is already there is too far below ground level for a coaster support to sit on. The part that already has been poured is simply ballast, if you will, for footers that will bear a lot of load.
Operating under the assumption that my previous speculation is correct, the reason we have not seen additional pouring is because they are waiting for the large pour to cure before they can pour the actual ride footers on top of it. The actual footers will most likely be cardboard-formed, as well as all the other ride footers, and as anyone who has had to move a wet cardboard box will know, footing tubes would probably be rendered useless if they sat out in the rain for days before concrete was poured. I suspect we will see a lot of rebar dropped in, and in a week or so, once the large footing has cured, the forms and the concrete trucks will show up en masse.
Disclaimer: this post is 85% pure speculation, based wholly on my observations of the construction process of other coasters and the basic knowledge of engineering and construction that I possess.
tl;dr: They ain't ready for cardboard forms for the footers, so there's none on site yet. Also, the big footer is not finished.