The new Russellville High School gym is more than 50 percent complete, and construction officials hope to have the project finished by the beginning of the 2015 school year.
Van Horn Construction Vice President Chad Weisler said the project is over halfway complete during a Russellville Board of Education building and grounds meeting on Monday.
“We started on April 16 and have a completion date of Oct. 25,” Weisler said. “We feel more than 53 percent complete at this point.”
Weisler said interior work will begin once windows are installed this week. The gym floor is scheduled to be poured Tuesday.
“Once the gym floor is poured, it’ll take on a drastic change,” Weisler said. “Our intent is to try to be complete in August. We’d like to be out by the time school starts.”
Weisler also presented the rendering of gym floor, which includes a Russellville Cyclone at center court with Russellville and Cyclones at either baseline. The interior of the 3-point line will feature a lighter-stained wood, while the remainder of the court will be darker-stained and will be surrounded by a 3-foot wide black baseline.
On the exterior of the gym, the illuminated lettered Cyclone Stadium will be nearly 3-feet tall and 30-feet wide.
Weisler presented an asphalt plan with a preliminary budget of about $430,000, which includes an overlay of Knoxville Avenue and multiple parking lots. Weisler proposed a concreted area with removable pipe bollards in front of the Cyclone Stadium ticket booth to allow for safe pedestrian entry.
Weisler also proposed a 10-foot wide, lighted sidewalk from the parking lots to the stadium’s entrance, as well as a 30 foot-by-50 foot pavilion with electricity and water access.
“I think that’s a no-brainer,” board member Morgan Barrett said. “I think we need one out there.”
Superintendent Randall Williams said that although the projects need to be completed, the price of the district’s ongoing projects is growing.
“I’d feel better if we had a maximum price on Sequoyah,” Williams said. “We keep adding to that.”
The committee agreed to allow Van Horn Construction to collect bids on the project.
Board members Barrett, Wesley White, Breanne Davis and Allan George were present.
Read more: The Courier – Your Messenger for the River Valley – Gym more than 50 percent complete