{"id":165243,"date":"2024-09-19T08:56:49","date_gmt":"2024-09-19T12:56:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=165243"},"modified":"2024-09-20T17:06:48","modified_gmt":"2024-09-20T21:06:48","slug":"campus-construction-update-september-20-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2024\/09\/19\/campus-construction-update-september-20-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Campus Construction Update: September 20, 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Arriving at Russell Street Field on Sept. 16, we watched with interest as a young man set up electronic equipment on the brand-new surface of the soccer field. Our first thought was that he was preparing to broadcast via satellite the news about the newly renovated field to some distant land \u2014 perhaps Belgium, which got us thinking about french fries with mayonnaise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"athletic
The new Musco field lights at Russell Street Field get tested on Sept. 18. (Paul Farnsworth\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But then we spoke to the man, whose name is Corbin Cleary and who is a field technician for Firefly Sports Testing, of Hookset, N.H. He explained that he was engaged in one of the final steps in the summer-long installation of the new FieldTurf playing surface: ensuring that the turf, a product called CORE, meets standards that pertain to the experience of the student athletes who use it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, as Cleary explained, one of the factors he\u2019d be measuring was the \u201cGmax\u201d \u2014 the turf\u2019s shock-absorbing properties, determined by dropping a test object at different points on the soccer field. (\u201cGmax\u201d refers to the peak of deceleration during impact.) Other measurements included the planarity of the surface \u2014 its flatness \u2014 and the stability of the turf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Corbin

Corbin Cleary, a field technician for Firefly Sports Testing, sets up equipment on the new turf at Russell Street Field. Firefly collects turf performance data for manufacturer FieldTurf. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"Complete

Complete except for final tests and a few punch list items: the new FieldTurf on the Russell Street soccer field on Sept. 16. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"Looking

Looking northwest across the newly resurfaced soccer field at Bates\u2019 Russell Street sports complex. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"The

The brand-new FieldTurf playing surface for soccer and other sports at Russell Street Field. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"To

To the left of the white curb at Russell Street Field is the brand-new FieldTurf soccer pitch, and at right is the Mondo track surface installed in 2022. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"Site

Site work is underway for a new javelin runway at this site east of the softball field. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"A

A rigger, at left, and other workers observe on Sept. 5 as a Cote Corp. crane places one of four new field lights at Russell Street Field. The lighting work was part of a summer renovation of the field. (Theophil Syslo\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"The

The business end of a new Musco field light array at Russell Street Field. Four such arrays were installed in early September. (Theophil Syslo\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"Testing

Testing the new Musco field lights at Russell Street Field on Sept. 18. (Paul Farnsworth\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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And the new turf passed all the tests, meaning that the soccer field is ready for games to begin. The first post-renovation contest is set for Sept. 23, a women\u2019s soccer match against Maine Maritime Academy. The Back to Bates festivity will feature two games \u2014 not to mention the rededication of the Russell Street athletic complex \u2014 on Sept. 28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, and as usual, there were a few punch-list items to be addressed in the coming days. One final chore is depending on the weather. Seeding new grass in freshly landscaped areas will have to wait for a rainy spell that, at this writing, is nowhere in sight. And other work at the field unrelated to the soccer pitch will continue a little longer, as we\u2019ll explain shortly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
A Cote Corp. crane has just finished placing a new field light, one of four, at Russell Street Field on Sept. 5. Meanwhile, two machines groom the crumb rubber and sand infill on the field\u2019s new playing surface. (Theophil Syslo\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Overall, after a delayed start caused by an overburdened state environmental permitting process, the soccer field makeover \u201chas been great,\u201d says Paul Farnsworth, Bates project manager for the field work. \u201cWe haven’t had any hiccups. Everyone showed up and did what they said they\u2019d do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, beyond the new soccer turf and the track that encircles it (itself resurfaced two years ago), subsidiary projects are in their final days. Early in the summer, for the FieldTurf work, a temporary driveway for heavy machinery was opened from Lafayette Street, and that area is being restored to its former appearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"This
“I never promised you a…”: This area alongside the softball field will contain a stormwater retention feature, aka rain garden. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

More impressively, a large and neatly contoured trench has been dug between the softball field and the Cutten Maintenance Center, and that will become a \u201crain garden\u201d \u2014 a plant-filled drainage structure designed to keep stormwater running off the softball field from overwhelming nearby Jepson Brook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the grassy areas surrounding the softball field, more athletic facilities are being completed. To the south, near St. Mary\u2019s Health System property, concrete has been placed to serve as the new and improved launch pad for hammer and discus throwing. Nearby, new batting cages are being built.  Around the corner of the ballfield, parallel to Lafayette Street, what on Sept. 16 appeared to be a gravel road will soon become the college\u2019s new runway for steel-tipped javelin throwing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the softball field itself will be refreshed with a smoothed playing surface \u2014 living grass and dirt this time \u2014 as well as newly painted dugouts and new safety fencing protecting the dugouts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The concrete pad will be fitted with removable netting for use as the throwing area for discus and hammer. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dreams of field<\/strong>: The end of summer usually brings the end of outdoor construction at Bates, but 2024 is an exception. As the Russell Street Field work is wrapping up, general contractor Shaw Brothers and Bates project manager Paul Farnsworth will head a half-mile west to launch a similar undertaking \u2014 replacing the entire soil-and-grass infield at the college\u2019s baseball facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Field turf manufacturer FieldTurf, too, is again involved, this time supplying a product from its DoublePlay line, designed specifically for baseball. That\u2019s because the dirt of Leahey Field is rich in marine clay, and thus in the attendant twin delights of poor drainage and soil consistency that\u2019s ceramic-hard when dry and mucky when saturated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Long
Long plagued by poor drainage, the dirt and grass infield of Leahey Field will be replaced with DoublePlay artificial turf by FieldTurf. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really about the student experience,\u201d says Chris Streifel, Bates\u2019 director of capital planning and construction. Rainy weather leaves the \u201cclay a soggy, sloppy, unplayable mess\u201d that in extreme cases has caused games to be \u201ccanceled or relocated to fields at other institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Leahey Field makeover is expected to be completed by the end of November, leaving the field ready for play in the spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can we talk<\/strong>? Campus Construction Update loves to hear from you. Please send questions, comments, and reminiscences about construction at Bates College to dhubley@bates.edu<\/em><\/a>, with \u201cCampus Construction\u201d or \u201cCan\u2019t you just boil the potatoes in mayonnaise?\u201d in the subject line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"In
In the foreground is a pole for a Musco field light awaiting installation at Russell Street Field on Sept. 5. The concrete base for the pole stands at right. In the distance, a crane has finished erecting another field light at the opposite end of the sports complex. (Theophil Syslo\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After the summer replacement of its grass playing surface with FieldTurf, Russell Street Field is back in play. But what of Leahey Field?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":165428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[24,11009],"tags":[1932,12359,12370,12366],"class_list":["post-165243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics","category-the-college","tag-campus-construction-updates","tag-facility-improvements","tag-leahey-field","tag-russell-street-field"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165243"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":165430,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165243\/revisions\/165430"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}