Southeast has spent $2 million for renovations to its football facilities

The Southeast Missouri State football team played like champions last season, winning the program’s first Ohio Valley Conference title and earning the program’s first playoff berth of any kind.

Now the Redhawks will be able to utilize facilities that, while maybe not yet championship-caliber, are a lot closer to that level than they have been.

The Redhawks will be greeted by several impressive facility upgrades at Houck Stadium and the Rosengarten Athletic Complex when they report for fall camp Aug. 4.

“It’s much needed,” Southeast coach Tony Samuel said. “We had a lot of issues.”

A state-of-the-art video scoreboard, FieldTurf surface and new lighting have been installed at Houck Stadium. Houck also has been repainted.
“The turf looks good. It will be important,” Samuel said. “The scoreboard is a nice addition.”

The FieldTurf was a necessity because Houck Stadium’s original artificial playing surface, installed more than a decade ago, had become so worn that it was potentially dangerous from an injury standpoint.

“It was real worn out,” All-American junior safety Tylor Brock said. “It’s going to be nice to play on the new one.”

Houck Stadium featured a temporary scoreboard the past three years that was among the smallest in college football.

The original scoreboard was removed before the 2008 season because of construction of a dormitory at the west end of Houck Stadium. The ground floor of the building houses a game-day locker room and athletic training room for the football program.

“It’s really nice,” Brock said of the new scoreboard. “I couldn’t believe they actually went through with that.”

Improvements to the Rosengarten Athletic Complex, which are nearly complete, include a renovated locker room with more than double the space of the previous one and renovated coaches offices, meeting rooms and athletic training areas.

“The locker room was real cramped,” Brock said.

Southeast players and coaches spend much more time at the Rosengarten Athletic Complex — where the practice fields are located — than they do at Houck Stadium.

“The locker room is going to be real nice,” Samuel said. “It was so tight in there. It’s going to be a lot better for the players.

“I think all that is a huge morale boost, and functional as well.”

Samuel said the improved facilities already have benefited recruiting.

“It helped us when we were able to show [potential recruits] the plans,” Samuel said.

The upgrades are part of the university’s $59 million-plus campuswide renovation plan that included more than $2 million in renovations to Houck and Rosengarten.

“It’s a step in the right direction, but there’s still a lot of work to do,” Samuel said.

Brock said he appreciates the university’s support for the football program with the upgraded facilities as the Redhawks prepare for their Sept. 3 season opener at home against regional rival Southern Illinois, but he knows wins can’t be bought.

“It’s nice, but it won’t affect how we play,” he said.

Source: Southeast Missourian

By EDWARD HUSAR
Herald-Whig Staff Writer

Installation began Thursday morning on the new artificial turf playing surface at Flinn Stadium.

Materials for the project arrived at the stadium Tuesday, and the installation crew came to Quincy Wednesday from St. Louis to make final preparations to put the material into place.

The work is expected to be completed before the football season begins this fall.

Dennis Peters, director of maintenance for the Quincy School District, said a series of renovations to the underground portion of the field got under way in June and moved along at a good pace, finishing about 10 days ahead of schedule. This set the stage for the installation of the new playing surface.

The Quincy School Board approved the $772,460 field renovation project in early June. At that time, the board voted 4-2 to spend $377,800 in life-safety funds for the underground repairs. On top of that, $394,660 in donated funds will be used to install the artificial turf playing surface instead of natural grass.

The underground work involved addressing some issues related to drainage problems, including the shifting of some sub-surface electrical wires.

Superintendent Lonny Lemon told the School Board last week that while deconstructing the old grass field, the work crew found some “surprises” under the surface.

“They found it had virtually twice the amount of sand that they had thought it was going to have, which complicated matters and probably also led to some of the problems we’ve been experiencing in the last 15 years or so,” Lemon said.
“And there was actually an electrical box of wiring that they hit eight inches below the surface of the playing field — right at dead center of the field,” he added. “That was a scare that day for that fellow. Fortunately, the power was off.”
Peters said the electrical box contained wires leading to the scoreboard. Other scoreboard wires were only 10 inches below the surface, posing a potential safety concern.

“Anytime you have something electrical buried that’s not three feet down — or at least 30 inches or so — it’s always a concern,” Peters said.

Peters said all wires were relocated as needed to improve safety, including the electrical wires used to power the field’s lights. The electric wires were encased in conduit and buried deep in the ground to help protect them in the future from possible abrasions and to guard against potential safety concerns.

Putting the wires in conduit also makes for easier future maintenance, Peters said.

“That way, if we have a problem with our wiring some day, we can pull it back out and rerun it. We can take care of our problems if we have any.” He said the work crew also installed new drainage tiles underground to help improve water runoff from the field.

Peters said the large amount of sand found under the old field required some extra stabilization work as the repair crew prepared the ground for the new playing surface.

“They had to add a little concrete mix with it to firm up the ground up before they laid the rock,” he said.

The rocks were then rolled evenly to provide a smooth bed for the artificial turf.

Quincy University has pledged $75,000 toward the cost of installing the artificial turf. QU made this offer in exchange for being allowed to play its home football games at Flinn Stadium.

QU’s athletic director, Marty Bell, told The Herald-Whig the team intends to start using the field this fall and will keep using it for at least three years but possibly longer through a 10-year lease arrangement being worked out with the district.
Representatives of booster groups that support the field renovations raised another $50,000 in pledges for the project. That left $269,660 still to be raised for the installation of artificial turf. However, George Crickard, president of the Quincy Public Schools Foundation, told the School Board in June the foundation is committing itself to providing that amount in funds still to be raised from supporters.

The School Board last month awarded a $377,800 contract to Byrne & Jones Sports to carry out the underground repairs. The $394,660 contract for the turf installation was awarded to Field Turf of St. Louis, which will install a state-of-the-art synthetic field with an anticipated life expectancy of 12 years.

The district expects to save money each year by not having to maintain a grass field. Those savings are projected to amount to about $192,000 over the life of the field.

Source: whig.com

In 2004, Washington University kicked off the revolution of artificial turf fields in the St. Louis area by negotiating a $900,000 contract with Byrne & Jones Construction, a 35-year-old Maryland Heights company and one of the area’s largest asphalt contractors. Britt Taulbee, executive vice president of Byrne & Jones Sports — a new subsidiary …

Starting in 1976 as a family-operated company that sealed local driveways, Byrne & Jones Construction Inc. has grown into a major provider of rubberized tracks and artificial turf football and soccer fields for high schools, colleges and professional training fields.

That work has become so much a part of Byrne & Jones’ business that the Maryland Heights-based company recently spun off a separate division strictly for building and maintaining sports surfaces in 10 Midwestern states, including Missouri and Illinois. The new Byrne & Jones Sports Division is headed by Britt Taulbee, a company executive vice president.

“Our construction company used to do the asphalt part of track and field installations, and then we’d wait for the actual turf and track surfaces from other companies,” Taulbee said. “But what we found over time was that because there were few companies that installed the surfaces that it became tough to schedule all those jobs.”
So Byrne & Jones sent some of its own employees for training in installing rubberized tracks and Field Turf, as well as other artificial track and field surfaces. The company also invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in specialized equipment to enable it to do entire installation jobs when schools and colleges would call for replacement of their old tracks and fields, Taulbee said.

“At first, we didn’t market it outside of St. Louis,” he said. “Then word got around about our work.”

Byrne & Jones, even before spinning off its sports division, has installed tracks and fields at dozens of area schools, as well as new artificial turf football fields for Southern Illinois University Carbondale, high schools in Topeka, Kan., a recreation field at Fort Campbell, Ky., and the training fields for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League.

Two years ago, Byrne & Jones installed the artificial turf fields now used by St. Charles West High School and St. Charles High.

“We’re delighted to have two fields which can host an unlimited number of activities and are also safer for our athletes and more cost-efficient to maintain,” said Randy Charles, superintendent of the St. Charles School District.

The company’s new sports division consists of Taulbee, project manager Jameson Sheley and 16 employees divided into five crews: two teams that install rubberized tracks and three groups that install artificial surfaces for football and soccer fields, as well as rubberized tennis courts. That’s roughly a quarter of Byrne & Jones’ entire work force.

To date, Byrne & Jones has installed and maintained more than 1,000 athletic surfaces, including artificial and some natural turf fields, tracks and several tennis courts.

“While we are the largest commercial paving contractor in St. Louis, in recent years up to 20 percent of our business has come from schools upgrading athletic facilities,” said Brian Goggins, president of Byrne & Jones Construction.

“More and more schools are looking for ways to strategically manage their real estate assets, reduce maintenance costs and use their sports facilities as a college recruiting tool.”

Taulbee said the average new track at a high school or college would last about 20 to 25 years with regular maintenance. The average new artificial football or soccer field turf lasts about 10 to 12 years, he said.

Replacement and maintenance of an artificial track and field costs a school an average of nearly $1.2 million, Taulbee said. Though a huge number, that figure can prove to be a bargain for many schools over the costs of maintaining a natural turf field for the same period.

The easier maintenance of artificial surfaces also makes it possible for schools and colleges to rent out those fields and tracks to make more money, he said.

Installation and maintenance of artificial tracks and fields has become a big business nationally, Taulbee said. About 600 tracks and 800 artificial fields are installed annually throughout the United States, he said.

Byrne & Jones did nearly $6 million in artificial track and field business last year, before the sports division was created, Taulbee said.

“This year, we’re going for about $10 million,” he said.

What are the costs associated with site preparation during winter months?

Cold temperatures present a series of challenges in site work and require more planning to advance projects effectively. While temperature-sensitive work should be done during warmer times of the year, often that is not possible. Projects that begin in the fall face freezing temperatures that affect earthwork, concrete and asphalt paving.

The degree of site preparation is dependent on what the project developer expects to be accomplished over the winter. If all that is needed is access to the site to build underground infrastructure, such as the laying of sewer lines, then some rough grading and installation of construction rock is all that’s needed to mitigate the mucky conditions.

More substantial work — such as laying asphalt or constructing building pads — requires much more site preparation. The subgrade that will support a paved surface must be shaped to grade and properly compacted before any rock, asphalt or concrete is placed.

This can be especially difficult in winter months because subsoil frost particles can impede proper compaction.

Often, soil stabilization that includes use of a lime-based additive can be used to raise the temperature of the subgrade to improve compaction. The result is a less permeable, stabilized soil with a stronger base on which to build.

Once the site is properly prepared, concrete and asphalt paving can be completed during the winter but at additional expense and risk. Cold temperatures typically require additional manpower and equipment to compact asphalt, although there will still be a risk of the asphalt deterioration in the future.

Meanwhile, concrete costs rise as “winter service” charges are assessed to cover the expense of heating water used in concrete mixes and using blankets to protect concrete while it cures.

CARBONDALE – Artificial turf installation for the playing field of the new Saluki Stadium is complete, officials announced Thursday.

Byrne & Jones Construction, Inc., the St. Louis-based company, responsible for installing the turf, said the field is ready for SIU football’s first home game September 2.

The turf – Duraspine PRO from maker FieldTurf – is a high-end artificial material that is also used by the New England Patriots, Byrne & Jones representatives said.

It features two-and-a-half inch grass blades and was installed in 15-foot-wide panels between the field’s sidelines.

ST. LOUIS – Given a window of just two and half months, Byrne and Jones Construction Co. took only 44 working days to transform two grass football and soccer fields into artificial turf fields for the St. Charles School District in St. Charles, MO. The fields are now hosting St. Charles West High School and St. Charles High School home games and other activities, said a news release from Bryne and Jones.

The school district installed the artificial turf fields to cut maintenance costs and improve player safety, said the news release. The $1.1 million dual installation would normally have taken up to four months depending on the availability of material. Byrne and Jones had them ready Aug. 1, in time for the district to host a regional qualifier for the National Junior Disabled Athletes Association.

“We’re delighted to have two fields which can host an unlimited number of activities and are also safer for our athletes and more cost efficient to maintain,” said Randy Charles, superintendent of the St. Charles School District.
Byrne and Jones accelerated installation through pre-planning by ordering turf, rock base and materials for drainage in advance. It initiated construction May 15 by removing the existing sod. It then laid a fabric, covered it with a rock base and installed 1,500 ft. of drainage pipe. Each fielded was overlaid with 30 pieces of Sprinturf DF artificial turf. Seams were glued using a special epoxy to create a smooth playing surface. The project employed a local union workforce. At peak, 12 journey workers from the carpenters, laborers and operating engineers were on the site.

The fields have a better G-max rating than grass turf, said the company in its release. G-max measures the ability of the surface to absorb impact. The turf’s design also makes it less likely that cleats will stick when an athlete makes a sharp cut, reducing the risk of leg injuries. In addition, the fields are available for unlimited use – including band practices.
Since 2004, Byrne and Jones has installed more than three dozen athletic fields throughout metro St. Louis. Clients include Chaminade, the Fort Zumwalt, Hazelwood, Parkway, Rockwood and Ladue School Districts, Lutheran South, Southern Illinois University (SIU) at Edwardsville, St. Louis Abbey, Villa Duchesne and the Scott Gallagher Soccer Club.

Founded in 1976, Byrne & Jones is the St. Louis area’s largest commercial paving contractor. The firm builds parking lots, roads/highways, running tracks, tennis courts, underground drainage systems and maintains paved surfaces, including micro-surfacing. The company employs more than 80 people at its headquarters in Maryland Heights, MO.