The George Rogers Clark High School athletic facilities project is slowly, but surely nearing its end.

John Hagan Codell said construction crews have lost about 99 working days, nearly 20 working days a month or roughly five months total to weather.

“Rain has really hurt us,” Codell said.

Football Stadium

While Codell had initially hoped for the football stadium to be completed in July, he said the goal now is to be done by the first football game, which is in early September.

Codell said in a June Board of Education construction update the stadium buildings overhead rough is complete. Prime and first coat of finish paint has been applied to all walls and ceilings. Ceiling grid installation began, and epoxy resin flooring and final finish coat of paint are also done. 

Crews also completed epoxy resin flooring and painting the gymnasium. The final trim out of coping and downspouts is being completed and the girting is being installed to receive the metal wall panels on the backside of the home grandstands. 

The concrete walks around the perimeter of the track are nearly complete and shock pad installation began.

Codell said the scoreboards were set Friday, and the track paving is set for the second week of July.

Crews are wrapping up laying down the turf field and will then put the graphics down.

“The priority is to finish the football stadium first,” Codell said.  

Gymnasium

Structural steel work is nearly complete including the front radius of the gymnasium. 

Codell said stair stringers have been installed and pans poured in two sets of stairs.

Interior masonry partition walls are being completed and the exterior stone veneer is also now underway.

TPO roof system installation on the gym is in the dry with the lightweight concrete system underway. 

“The roof is going on as we speak,” Codell said. 

Codell said about six months after the roof is completed is when he hopes to have the gymnasium finished.

Codell said he hopes to have it done by Christmas, though with all of the weather delays, a more realistic timeline may be February.

“Rain has been killing us there,” Codell said.

The structural stud walls are complete as crews will begin the installation of the metal wall panels in July. The stone veneer and metal wall panels will match the high school. 

Field house

Codell said the field house work is progressing well. All under slab rough in plumbing and electrical is complete. 

“Field house and the baseball and softball field portion everything is on schedule to be completed next spring,” Codell said.

All of the slab on grade is down, which allowed for masonry walls to begin. Site utility work is ongoing for sanitary and electrical services. Once these utilities are finished being installed, the final grading of the field areas will commence, Codell said in the board report.

Codell said the goal is to have the field area to final grade and seeded this fall. Site lighting bases have also began.

In a nutshell, Codell said, there’s still more to do, but the end is finally in sight.

“Things are going as well as they can be with the weather,” he said.