Progress staff reports
Jacksonville Daily Progress
JACKSONVILLE —
By the end of February 2011 the Rusk Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys will have a lot in common — they will be playing football on the same type of artificial surface.
The Rusk Board of Trustees approved on Monday night a renovation project to Eagle Stadium totaling $1,389,780.
Included in the plan is replacing the facility’s natural grass field an artificial playing surface and removing the old track which circles the field and constructing a new-modern running track that will be donned with the school’s red and black colors, in its place.
The Rusk ISD board accepted a $1,125 million bid from Hellas Construction, Inc., which is based in Austin. The firm has installed over 350 artificial surface football fields including playing surfaces at Baylor University and at Texas Tech University and recent installations in the region at Bullard High School, Van High School, Lindale High School and at Tyler Junior College.
Work is scheduled to begin as soon as the current football season is complete (early November) and should conclude before the start of the spring track and field season if all goes as planned.
The project typically takes from 60-90 days according to company officials.
A bid from Safety Lighting of Crockett in the amount of $91,780 was also accepted. The company will replace existing stadium lights with state-of-the-art illumination devices that will be amounted on new 70-foot tall light poles.
The lights come with a 10-year warranty.
Funding for the stadium renovations will come from the district’s building fund.
