Timbers Beat: New turf project underway

PORTLAND
, Ore.
– Following Friday morning’s announcement, work crews wasted little time before diving into the extensive project of installing a new state-of-the-art FieldTurf playing surface at PGE Park today.
In just a matter of eight hours, nearly half of the 100,000 square feet of NexTurf had been pulled up, exposing years of white painted lines from countless baseball, soccer and football games etched into a thick rubber base. What is left field and center field at PGE Park now looks like a deserted school-yard blacktop.
The old turf is being removed in 15-foot wide chunks and rolled up into tubes nearly four feet tall. Portions of the old turf have been donated by the city of Portland to area sports programs.
It is expected to take about four days to completely remove the old turf and its solid rubber base that has endured several years of Portland weather and more than two hundred conversions. The surface coming out was originally installed during the PGE Park remodel prior to the 2001 season.
This project will move swiftly as the stadium’s 2008 event schedule opens in just seven weeks when the Papé Grand Slam between the Oregon State Beavers baseball team and Georgia begins Feb. 29.
Stay tuned for frequent updates and pictures throughout the process of the installation of PGE Park’s new playing surface.