New fields, tracks at Interlake and Sammamish scheduled for summer

Published 5:00 pm Wednesday, June 8, 2011

The final phase of the Bellevue School District project to resurface the football fields at all four public high schools begins its final phase next week.

Bellevue and Newport had their football fields replaced last summer in the first phase of the project, but both Sammamish and Interlake still feature the AstroPlay surface that has been in place since the early 2000s.

At the conclusion of the summer, all four will be fitted with the newest advancement in synthetic surfaces: FieldTurf Revolution, which the official FieldTurf website boasts as, “The new age of artificial turf”. Revolution features a more durable fiber that is characterized by numerous ridges that run from top to bottom, eliminating breaking points and making for a longer lasting product.

Bellevue School District Director of Facilities and Information Technology Jack McLeod said as of last year, the field at Bellevue was beginning to wear out at the seams and the field at Newport was becoming increasingly worn as well due to increased community and interscholastic usage.

The project is scheduled to get underway sometime during the week of June 13, which is the final week of classes, and has a completion date of August 12.

That means both fields and tracks will be ready for the opening practice of football season, which is August 17. “Everything must be tested and signed off before fall sports start,” McLeod said.

In that eight week period, FieldTurf contracted installation specialist Atlas will not only remove the field surface and replace it with FieldTurf Revolution, but will scrape and replace the surrounding running track surface as well.

McLeod said the surfaces on the tracks are over 20 years old and consequently lack the rebound necessary to remain viable both competitively as well as from a safety standpoint. Goalposts will be replaced as well after rust and other signs of wear were discovered upon inspection.

The replacement schedule was discussed with Athletic Directors in the district who all agreed to the two-year plan that placed priority on replacing the most damaged first.

Bellevue School District will have an eight-year warranty on the surface and McLeod said the life expectancy is eight to ten years. Funding for the $1.5 million project will come from the five-year capital levy, which was approved in 2008.