Construction will begin Monday on a new $800,000 track at Wallace Wade Stadium, a project athletics officials expect will be completed in mid-summer.
The new track will replace the 16-year-old current track with a softer, safer surface, but will retain the same red color, said men's track coach Norm Ogilvie.
"Duke track [teams] are very excited about getting a first-class track facility," Ogilvie said. "It will be a huge boost for morale."
Because the installation of the track prevents competitions from being held at Wallace Wade, the annual Duke Invitational track meet will be moved to North Carolina Central University April 4-5. "We hope all schools will still come," Ogilvie said.
The construction will also partially interfere with spring football practice, said Christopher Kennedy, associate director of athletics.
"General use of the track for other teams will also have to be relocated, but there's not a lot of that [use] right now," Kennedy added.
Athletic officials decided it was time to go ahead with the project because the existing track has been in place since 1987 and its 10-year warranty ran out in 1997.
Ogilvie said the new track should be a little bit safer, although he said runners will not notice a major difference. "Anytime you have a new track, its going to be safer," he said.
The refurbishment is the latest project in a series of improvements to athletics facilities in recent years, including the constructions of the Yoh Football Center and the Ambler Stadium and Sheffield Center for tennis.
"The decision [to replace the track] wasn't a hard one," Kennedy said. "The old track was really worn out and wasn't safe, so we needed to do it. It was just a matter of when, but there was no good time."
Kennedy said that he and other officials would have preferred to install the track in the summer, when there is less activity, but the project could not be confined to May, June and July. To ensure finishing the project before the fall, they chose to begin construction now.
"We tried to balance finding a time when the least amount [of athletic activity] was going on with just trying to get it done," Kennedy said.
Ogilvie pointed out that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University are both refurbishing their tracks this year. The project must be done every 10 to 15 years.
In the next three months, the old Wallace Wade track will be taken out and the drainage and asphalt will be renovated. After the asphalt is laid down, some time is needed to let it cure before the synthetic surface can be placed on top, which should happen after graduation.
Kennedy said the track is expected to be done in July, although no exact date can be set because bad weather delays could greatly affect the time frame.
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