The construction on the track field will become available for bidding in August and is estimated to finish in the summer of 2016. The The funding for the construction on the track field rose to $7.3 million in May from the previous estimate of $4 million.
Ian Banner, director of Facilities Planning and university architect, said the new estimate was formulated after consultation with engineers for the project.
“We estimated the project originally before we engaged engineering consultants,” Banner said. “Once we got the design professionals on board and completed geotechnical studies, we realized that we’d underestimated it.”
This project, which closed the track field in April 2014, comprises two individual projects that must be completed in conjunction with one another. The track itself is in need of replacement and a 48-inch storm drain pipe 17 feet below the surface needs to be redirected.
“What we suspect is that there may have been a fracture in that drain pipe that has caused erosion to occur underneath the track,” Banner said. “That’s our first project, to prevent water from going under the track at all.”
The storm drainage pipe will be redirected to a pipe that flows underneath the recently completed parking lot between Hill Drive and Procurement Services.
The current track cannot be replaced until this structural work is completed. The slight movement caused by sub-level cavities made the track unfit for official competitions by NCAA standards. Since it was detected in 2014, the track team has relocated practices and meets.
Joey Jones, associate media relations director, said the team has been practicing across town while the track has been out of operation.
“There are inevitably some challenges from not being on your home track, but they’ve really performed well this entire season,” Jones said.
Banner said orchestrating this construction has been difficult because it is at the crossroads of many other projects going on in that area.
“We’ve been trying to plan our schedules around everybody’s activities and the complications of having two or three different projects in the same area,” Banner said. “Hill Drive is one of our main roads not only for circulation on campus, but for everybody. So we couldn’t just dig up Hill Drive without consulting the schedules of material deliveries on the arena and parking structure projects.”
Banner said this fracture was not due to rainfall this year.
“When you bury things for that long, you never know if there are erosion problems underground until you see the evidence of it on the surface,” Banner said.
Though there is always the possibility of another drain causing erosion, Banner said he did not see it as a safety issue because the grounds are monitored well enough to recognize the ground level indicators and make repairs before problems become serious.
Jones said the team is looking forward to the completion of the construction.
“The current track coach loves home meets, so there will certainly be more when it’s back and ready.”
