By the time this year’s US Open begins in August, the U.S. Tennis Association’s fixed metal roof support at Arthur Ashe Stadium should be finished, although it will be another year before the retractable roof is in place and ready for use.The three-year USTA project is designed to prevent future tennis matches from being cancelled due to inclement weather with the addition of the $100 million moveable roofs.Driving along the Long Island Expressway or the Grand Central Parkway, you can’t miss the three enormous cranes that are lifting the steel superstructure into place. The lacey-looking supports have already changed the landscape of the USTA’s home in Flushing Meadows Park.
Danny Zausner, chief operating officer of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, said Tuesday in an interview with the Chronicle that despite the tough winter weather, the project is on schedule.
“We had to bring in a third crane to make up for the weather,” Zausner said. “It is an engineering marvel and we are working in tight confines, but the contractor knows what’s needed.”
Already completed are the eight columns that will support the new roofs. About 25 to 30 percent of the frame has been installed and will be completed before work has to cease either in June or July.
At that time, USTA officials have to get the grounds ready for the US Open, which runs for two weeks every August and September. That effort will involve removing the cranes in pieces and trucking them away, eliminating any work equipment to make the site safe for the public and beautifying the area with plantings.
“This is a three-year project that stops during the best weather conditions,” Zausner said.
Once the Open is over, only one large crane will return, along with some smaller ones. Next year, the retractable leafs and their permanent skin made of a translucent teflon-coated fabric will be installed. When completed, in time for the 2016 Open, the roofs will open and close in five to seven minutes.
The second phase of upgrades includes building a new 8,000-seat Grandstand Stadium in the southwest quadrant of the center. The USTA has begun with clearing the area and underground work.
Phase three calls for constructing a new 15,000-seat Armstrong Stadium, adding 5,000 more seats than the present facility. It willl also have a retractable roof.
The original stadium was built for the 1964-65 World’s Fair as the Singer Bowl and used for U.S. Olympic trials, sports demonstrations and folk festivals.
The entire project is scheduled for completion at a cost of around $500 million. The USTA is self-financing the project through bonds and its own revenue
by Liz Rhoades, Managing Editor. http://www.qchron.com/
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου