Maryville High School stadium project nears completion
By Matthew Stewart | (matts@thedailytimes.com)
Maryville High School’s football stadium project is nearing completion.
Maryville City Schools has allocated nearly $500,000 to improve stadium drainage, install synthetic turf on the field and add a video display to the scoreboard. Maryville High School will fully repay the capital improvements funds.
AstroTurf has completed installing the field system, said facilities director Richard Harbison. Crews worked until 2 a.m. Sunday and 3 a.m. Monday finishing the system prior to Monday morning’s delivery of Daktronics’ LED video display unit.
Workers have installed the JumboTron and were expected Tuesday to have completed all electrical work.
Crews plan today to run the unit’s first test, Harbison said. They also plan to run a night test in the near future.
School officials are currently focusing their efforts on other aspects of the project.
Workers are installing 10 security cameras around the stadium, he said. They’re also reconfiguring the spotlights, focusing them on the “Power M” at the 50-yard line.
Field finished
Maryville City Schools has accepted the field system but hasn’t remitted payment, Harbison said. School officials are waiting for the project’s remaining work to be completed.
AstroTurf’s crews are scheduled next month to install the field goals and lay a 4-foot-by-15-foot section of synthetic turf featuring the company’s logo on a bank running parallel to Cedar Street, he said.
Crews are currently closing up the field system and re-installing fencing, Harbison said. The field is also undergoing tests.
On Tuesday, an AstroTurf subcontractor conducted impact testing, or g-max testing, to measure the shock-attenuation performance of its sports surfaces. The field was in the suitable range.
Area researchers have also viewed Maryville High School’s field, he said. The University of Tennessee Center for Athletic Field Safety sent a representative Tuesday to take measurements and test the field.
Project history
Officials started working April 30 on the football stadium project.
Volunteer Excavating completed the grading package. The field is crowned and drops 7 inches from its center to the sidelines.
Officials later performed the Proctor compaction test, a laboratory method to determine the optimal moisture content at which a given soil type will become most dense and achieve its maximum dry density. Workers then dug a ditch, poured a curb and installed artificial turf nailers that will attach to the field system.
Crews later dug trenches, installed drain lines around the field’s perimeter and laid geotextiles. They then poured three layers of stone and built it up to the turf nailers.
On June 5, AstroTurf delivered Maryville High School’s GameDay Grass 3D Xtreme. The product features two different fibers: Horseshoe fiber and slit film.
The Horseshoe fiber is a part of the double nylon Root Zone, which holds the sand and rubber together preventing splash and migration. The fiber also stays upright and reflects less heat and light.
The slit film breaks apart, which offers better durability.
