HARLINGEN – Age has settled in.
Years of pain and suffering, time’s vengeance for its endless forced march, now reveal themselves on the track.
Generations of middle schoolers have wiped their feet on the orange track at Coakley Middle School.
They’ve run, stomped, leaped and stepped on the track, leaving behind memories of laughter and frustration – hallmarks of the athletic experience.
But the track isn’t complaining.
She’d like to soldier forward, and she will.
But there’s a problem.
Some horrible jagged cracks are stretching across her orange face.
She hadn’t given it a second thought, but the district wants to give her a makeover – a much-needed one.
And the more she thinks about it, the more she likes the idea. After all, it’s about 15 years since the last one.
The Harlingen school board also thought it was a good plan Tuesday when Oscar Tapia, assistant superintendent for operations, spoke of plans to resurface the athletic tracks.
That resurfacing is planned not only for the three middle schools this year but Harlingen High School and Harlingen High School South.
However, it’s going to be costly – more than $1 million costly.
“It’s part of our TRE program,” Tapia said, referring to funds generated by an increase in property taxes approved last year.
Tapia said tracks at the three middle schools will be resurfaced.
“We’ll remove the old track surface which is that red layer, do any minor repairs to the asphalt underneath, the sub-base, and then put a brand new track surface on it,” he said.
However, Coakley’s track will need more work. The sub base, which is the caliche and asphalt, has deteriorated.
“That is in such bad shape that we cannot utlize it to put a new track on it,” Tapia said. “It’ll just just falling apart, so we’d just be throwing our money away. So we’re going to be demolishing the entire track and rebuilding it from the ground up.”
Randy Cretors, athletic director for the district, said company drilled several feet into the track and found evidence the base had deteriorated.
The tracks for the moment are still usable, he said.
“Right now they have damage on the outside lanes,” he said. “We want to go ahead and get them repaired now. If you wait, the damage will get worse and it will double the cost.”
The district hasn’t gone out for bids. The architect is currently developing the specifications. However, Tapia said a rough estimate places the cost at about $900,000 in TRE funds this year just for the three middle schools.
“That is standard cost for a six lane 400 meter tracks,” he said.
Coakley, he added, is a complete rebuild, requiring demolition of the existing track, adding a new asphalt sub-base as well as new track surface, and improved drainage piping.
“Coakley’s taking up $600,000 of the project budget,” he said.
He expects the district to go out for bids soon and be able to award those bids at the November board meeting. Work will begin after the football season.
