Penn-Trafford running track to close during summer for renovations

Joggers, athletes, and local residents accustomed to using the track at Penn-Trafford High School may have to find somewhere else to walk this summer.

The track will undergo renovations starting soon after Memorial Day and will be closed to the public for about two months, according to business manager Brett Lago.

The Penn-Trafford School Board this week approved a state contract with ATT Sports Inc. to resurface the high school track. The project is expected to cost $221,390 and be taken from the district’s reserve fund.

“We solicited a couple of bids. We started the process probably back in the fall,” said Lago. “It is actually a little bit less (expensive) than we initially anticipated. We thought we were going to have to do some work on the asphalt as well, but that’s not going to have to be done this time.”

The track is 12 years old, Lago said, and “at the end of its useful life.”

“It is starting to show some cracks, and just the surface itself is wearing down, so there is not as much of the little rubber granules that make up the surface, they’re wearing away,” he said. “It is getting much harder than it would be when it was new, and there are some places where it is just starting to deteriorate. We patch it on a regular basis, but it’s just getting to the point where it is at the end of its life.”

The upgrade project will replace the red rubber surface with a black surface with white lines. The board may vote next month on potentially adding some color in the exchange zones, where relay runners would pass their baton to one another.

“It adds a little bit of color and a little bit of contrast,” Lago said.

The project is expected to take about 8 weeks to complete and should be ready in time for the 2023-24 school year. The new surface should last around 10 to 12 years.

The district is also looking into replacing the fencing that goes around the stadium, Lago added, and will begin the bid soliciting process in the next few months.