The wheels are literally rolling on the future centrepiece of the 2016 Saskatchewan Summer Games.
Work is underway on a new track and field facility at Estevan Comprehensive School, which will host many events when the Games are held in the Energy City.
Project manager Ken Jacobs, a consulting engineer with WSP Canada, gave local media a tour of the facility on Monday and a look at what will be happening in the near future.
At this point, pre-grading is being done at the site in preparation for the application of gravel and asphalt.
"There were some soft areas that had to be dealt with, sub-surface drainage that we're working on," said Jacobs.
He said the storm sewer will be installed in the next two weeks, with a number of catch basins, then the track will be surfaced with gravel and asphalt.
"Once that's done, we'll be ready for pavement in approximately a month from now," said Jacobs.
The goal is to get the facility, currently budgeted at about $1.5 million, finished this year.
Jacobs said the main factors in whether that can be done are weather and the speed of the contractors.
The rubber contractor is Carpell Surfaces, based in Quebec. Other contractors involved include Kelly Panteluk Construction, Glen Peterson Construction, Chamney Crushing and Souris Valley Paving.
"We certainly are (hoping to finish in 2014)," said host committee co-chair Brian Smith. "We definitely want to get to the asphalt phase this year. It's best to get it all done in one year."
The budget for the facility has risen from an original figure of about $1 million. Smith said that's largely because of items that have been added to the design.
He said the rubber surface for the track will cost about $300,000, the asphalt will be a little over that amount, and excavation will cost about $200,000. With various buildings, concrete pads, event equipment and grandstands needing to be built as well, he said it all adds up.
The existing track at ECS has six lanes, while the new one will have eight. There will also be room for a football field in the middle.
Above the sub-grade, there will be a layer of non-woven geotextile that separates the sub-grade from the gravel. Above the gravel will be 75 millimetres of pavement and 13 millimetres of rubber, giving the track a red colour.
"This site had sod put in, however, we were able to salvage all the topsoil. There's so much of it, we're able to use it to keep the costs down. We're just going to seed the disturbed areas," Jacobs added.
Venues for the various field events will be built around the track, with javelin and shot put proposed for the north end, discus, hammer throw and high jump on the west side. Long jump, triple jump and pole vault areas will be on the east side.
Jacobs explained that for the latter three events, athletes can go in either direction depending on the winds, and the double sand pits also allow for both boys and girls events to be run at the same time.
The proposed design also sees bleachers and an announcer's booth on the west side and a concession building north of the track.
