It may not look like it today, but the new $1.2 million artificial turf field at Mercer Stadium is on track to be completed within a couple of weeks.
The project is moving into the homestretch, with all of the drainage and ground work having been completed. A six-inch layer of the old gravel that assists with drainage has been removed; the field will be topped by new gravel and padding.
“That is something new,” said Diane Perry, the city’s manager of community development. “We didn’t have this on the old one. Queen’s Park East doesn’t have it either. It’s just something that’s come out in the last three or four years. It’s an extra layer of padding to give it more absorption. It’s a dense foam material that goes down in squares.”
Once the padding is laid down, workers from the Quebec-based company will get to work laying down the artificial carpet.
“We are on time, but it’s going to be a crunch,” Perry said. “This company is going to work seven days a week to get it done for us. We were hoping to have everybody on for Sept. 3, but it looks like it is going to be the Tuesday after the long weekend – Sept. 6. It worked out for all the groups because they said they aren’t playing on the long weekend anyways.”
Football, soccer and field lacrosse are some of the activities played on the Mercer field.
The new surface replaced a turf that was 12 years old. The usual lifespan of artificial turf fields is eight to 10 years.
