24 days and counting: Fencing, sidewalks being added for 1st game
Published 12:36 am Tuesday, August 7, 2018
- The Andalusia High School Bulldogs warm up Monday afternoon at the beginning of football practice. The areas of the stadium still under construction - like the plaza that will become the main entrance - will be fenced off for the first home game on Aug. 31. Note the iron posts to the left of the goalpost: The new video board will be installed there this week. Michele Gerlach/Star-News
With Andalusia’s first home football game only 24 days away, crews with Wyatt Sasser Construction are working to put safeguards in place to make the stadium usable before construction is completely finished.
Last month, the Andalusia Board of Education approved a “Plan B,” that includes building temporary, handicapped accessible sidewalks to the two entrances that will be used until the facility is completed.
![](https://www.andalusiastarnews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2018/08/0807-entrance-300x177.png)
A new handicapped-accessible ramp is being installed to the left of this entrance, which will be used until construction is completed at the AHS stadium.
Brian Ray, who is overseeing the project for Wyatt Sasser Construction, said fans can enter the stadium beside the auditorium, or on the visitors’ side by the field house.
“We have had lots of calls asking if the stadium will be ready,” he said. “We will play football. But we want people to know it’s not going to be finished. They need to watch their kids and make sure they stay away from the fenced-off areas.”
The new concession in the field house is expected to be in use, but the concession stands in the base of the pressbox and in the plaza will not be ready. Superintendent Ted Watson said the state building commission inspector has said if concessions are offered in the field house (visitors’ side), concessions also must be offered on the home side. It is expected a vending trailer will be used on the home side for the beginning of this season.
The old bus barns on the bypass side of the field recently were torn down to make way for visitor parking. Additional lighting will be added at the entrance on the home side of the stadium. And in the next 24 days, aluminum seats will be added to the home bleachers, and the new grandstands also are expected to be in place.
The base for new video board is in place, and the board should be delivered today or Wednesday.
Andalusia’s first home game will be Aug. 31.