Work on Round Lake High School stadium nearing completion
A $7 million project to update athletic facilities at Round Lake High School is nearly completed, and signs of progress are everywhere.
At the football stadium, finishing touches are being applied to the new artificial turf, crews are laying bricks for the expanded concession stand, and the metal skeleton of new bleachers has been erected. Elsewhere, new practice fields are being reseeded and soon will be covered with straw for the winter. New tennis courts are likely just weeks away from regular use.
Mary Lamping, the chief operations officer for Round Lake Area Unit School District 116, said a buzz has been building in the community.
"The first part of the project, everything was foundational," Lamping said. "Now that the field surface has been placed and the bleachers are starting to be put up, it's starting to look like something."
Ideally, the project would have been finished before students returned to class, but a record rainfall this spring slowed progress. Lamping said another issue cropped up over the summer when work crews realized the ground was wetter than anticipated.
"We had to cut out the bad soil and bring in rock and new soil to give the area a strong base," Lamping said. "We had to do that to make sure in the future we wouldn't have drainage issues."
Lamping said officials are shooting for the work to be done by about Sept. 20. She said the community has been understanding about the delays, and ongoing construction has led to additional traffic near the school.
"I know it can be frustrating, but everyone has been a trouper," Lamping said. "I think it's because everyone knows this is a great thing to do for kids and for the community. It's a great boon for everyone in Round Lake."
Construction began after a groundbreaking ceremony in April, but the rain soon turned the field into something of a mud pit. The project called for nearly every existing structure to be leveled and replaced, including the bleachers, press box and fencing. The bleachers that surrounded the stadium were built in the 1960s and didn't comply with the American with Disabilities Act. The stadium lighting was built in the 1980s and, like other parts of the stadium, required near-constant repair, officials said.
Lamping said the goal is for the school's soccer and football teams to be able to practice and host games at the new stadium in October.