Creative thinking and careful planning are giving a $100 million facelift to the University of Wisconsin at Madison's Camp Randall Stadium, reportedly the nation's fourth-oldest college football stadium.

The original 1917 bowl is being preserved while a nine-story structure is added on the stadium's east side. Divided into two phases, both of which are tied to the football season, the project was preceded by a comprehensive site utility project.

The utility project, which was completed in August 2002, resembled an archeological dig.

"You just don't know what is down there after all these years," said Jim Schumacher, project executive for general contractor Cullen-Smith LLC in Madison. Cullen was the lower bidder for the utility work, which was done under a separate contract.

In addition to new sewer lines, electrical lines, phone and data lines, some of the caissons for phase one also went in during the utility phase to avoid damaging the new utilities when construction began in earnest.

The stadium's capacity will increase as a result of the project, from 76,000 seats to 81,000 seats.

The number of seats being added is 13,500. The design calls for the removal of limited-view seats and some seating that was noncompliant with current codes.

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Accommodating Football

Working around the university's football season remains the paramount concern of all the construction phases.

Phase one work includes expansion of the third-level concourse and removal of third- and fourth-floor offices. A new fifth-level concourse will be constructed, including handicapped seating and restrooms. The new structure will hold 72 suites, 644 club seats and 300 premium seats, as well as football offices.

An office complex, including a ticket office, is being constructed in the site's southeast corner. A new video scoreboard, field lighting and sound system are also being added to the stadium.

All of the phase one work, which stated on Nov. 24 at the end of the football season, must be completed before the beginning of the new season on Aug. 15.

Phase two, which will be completed in time for the 2005 season, will include expansion and renovation of existing concourses, entry gates, restrooms and concessions, completion of football offices and other renovations to existing structures.

Schumacher said everything ties through the south end zone, and "we could not start until after the last football game. We have to have it back in there in time for football this year."

Included on the south end-zone work are removal and replacement of the seating bowl, addition of a new locker room, restrooms and concession areas, and construction of a new concourse.

Although crews are currently on schedule for completion by the August deadline, Schumacher said there were three weeks of January/February weather that "were just atrocious for pouring concrete."

East Side Addition

The addition to the east side of the stadium has also been tricky, he added.

A 36-ft. alley that serves as a fire lane for the stadium runs between the east side of the seating bowl and two existing structure. Although the fire lane had to remain usable for emergency vehicles, that alley was the only space available to locate two concourses levels complete with restrooms and concession areas, football offices and additional seating.

Tom Crewe, project architect for design architect Berners Schober Associates Inc. of Green Bay, Wis., said the solution to these tough logistics was to build over the fire lane, leaving it intact for use by emergency vehicles and placing seating, concourses and offices above it.

"It was very difficult to meld the old and new on this project," he added. "Parts of the stadium are extremely old, but there have also been several additions over the years."

Some elements of the current project, such as wrought-iron fencing, sandstone-colored stone and historical arches, will reflect the original stadium's look. The nine-story addition on the east side of the bowl will reflect more of the character of the 1960s addition on the west side of the bowl.

Crewe described the '60s addition on the west side as a "massive concrete structure."
The new addition will reflect the size of the massive structure it faces, but it will not mirror the older addition's structure.

"There was no space on the east side to duplicate that concrete system that exists on the west side," he said. "We are still dealing with a massive structure, but our solution is different from the previous one in that we went with steel."

That steel structure allows truck access in the fire lane, but also supports the floors above and allows the structure to be shoehorned in between the bowl and existing structures.

Putting up a nine-story structure in a 36-ft.-wide alley has taken some fancy footwork from construction crews. Work began on one end of the alley and progressed to the other end.

Schumacher said the first piece of steel went in on May 12. The last piece went in on Jan. 22.

"We put in two or three bays at a time, from the ground up," he said. "While we are finishing up precast on the south end of the alley, we are on the north end painting."

The curvature of the structure, which matches the shape of the existing bowl, has complicated the task.

"It's like building a layer cake in pie-shaped pieces," Schumacher said.

Site Affects Logistics

The site has also required carefully planned, just-in-time deliveries.

Between the construction of the athletic office building, the new operations building, the work in the south end zone and the nine stories going up on the stadium's east side, there is virtually no unspoken-for space on the site.

Deadlines imposed by the start and end of football season have just been part of the schedule complications. Six or seven home games during the fall football season bring players, media and 75,000 fans to the stadium.

"This is not the same facility on game day as it is every other day of the week," said Steve Malchow, associate athletic director for the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
"Cullen-Smith spends a day buttoning everything up before a game and then a day unbuttoning after the game, for safety's sake."

Game-day precautions include cordoning off dangerous areas and getting temporary signage in place to keep fans flowing.

"We started planning for the 2003 season in October 2002," Schumacher said. "That meant talking to every agency you can think of."

Malchow said that planning and close communication have been essential on a day-to-day basis so the athletic department, located in office on the site, could function throughout construction.

"When it's all done, Joe Fan will be the one to really benefit," he added. "This will be a much safer, much more pleasant environment that it was before."