Ryan Field work can continue later into evening

(Editor’s Note: This story was reported by Alex Harrison and originally published in the Evanston Roundtable, a neighboring independent newsroom. It was shared with The Record as part of an ongoing collaborative effort.)

City officials have authorized joint construction venture Turner-Walsh (also called the Central Street Consortium) to extend work on the Rebuild Ryan Field project an additional two hours each work day beginning Monday, July 15, according to email newsletters sent Thursday afternoon by Northwestern University and Council Member Eleanor Revelle (7th Ward).

The project’s new “alternate work schedule” on the site, which is near Wilmette’s southern border, will be:

• Monday through Friday: 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. (extended from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.)
• Saturdays: 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. (extended from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.)

The consortium will use the extra hours for “equipment maintenance and preparation for the next day’s activities,” according to both newsletters. This work is still required to comply with Evanston’s noise ordinance, which prohibits the “creation (including excavating), demolition, alteration or repair of any building” after 9 p.m. on weekdays and after 5 p.m. on Saturdays. All construction activity is prohibited on Sundays.

“The additional work hours allow the project to progress and stay on time,” both newsletters state. “The additional work hours are at the City’s discretion and will be continually re-assessed.”

Revelle: Conditions have ‘slowly improved‘

The approval is a shift from mid-June, when Revelle told residents at a Seventh Ward meeting that she and other city officials were monitoring 311 complaints about dust and other issues when considering whether to allow the extra work hours.

“Northwestern’s already asked to have extended hours, and so far we’ve been saying, ‘Until you get a better handle on the dust and a better handle on several other things, we’re not going to give you extended hours,’” Revelle said at the June 17 meeting. “So keeping track of what you might be submitting to 311 is helpful to me, and then … it should get the attention of Northwestern directly.”

Revelle told the RoundTable in an email Thursday that NU’s requests for extra hours had been anticipated in the project’s Construction Management Plan “from the beginning,” and that the university began making them several months ago when “complaints about dust from the work site flooded in from residents.”

“City staff made numerous visits to the work site and pressed the construction management team to take effective steps to mitigate the dust problem,” Revelle wrote. “The situation, although not perfect, has slowly improved, to the point that the City Manager [Luke Stowe] determined that the extended hours could be approved.”

She emphasized that the city retains discretion over the extra hours, and that staff “will monitor the situation closely and can make adjustments as needed.”

NU, Consortium ‘committed to being good neighbors‘

Asked for comment from the city staff end, city spokesperson Cynthia Vargas echoed Revelle’s sentiment, naming several measures implemented on the construction site to “enhance dust and debris containment and related issues.” These include washing down all trucks leaving the site, running street sweepers daily and, during demolition, running multiple mysters at once while tearing apart the old stadium structure.

“The City collaborates with the Central Street Consortium on a daily basis to reduce the impact on community members,” Vargas wrote to the RoundTable. “Daily speed enforcement checks are carried out by the Evanston Police Department on the truck route.”

Northwestern spokesperson Eliza Larson named many of the same measures as Vargas, plus stone roads installed to mitigate trucks tracking dust off-site and the “strict compliance” enforced around truck covering and route requirements.

“Northwestern and the Central Street Consortium are committed to being good neighbors and addressing concerns in a safe, responsible and timely manner,” Larson wrote.

Elsewhere in the Consortium’s newsletter, the joint venture shared that installation of earth retention sheeting has completed while anchoring continues, and that “the deep foundation operation will be complete by early August.”

“Mass excavation work also continues,” the newsletter continues, “with the stadium bowl nearing its permanent field level, helping to prepare the way for pouring concrete foundations.”

Just over a mile southeast of the project site, work continues on installing a temporary stadium structure at Northwestern’s Lanny and Sharon Martin Stadium along the lakefront to host some home football games over the next two seasons. This structure will see its first full use on Saturday, Aug. 31, at 2:30 p.m. when the Wildcats open their 2024-25 season with a game against the Miami (Ohio) RedHawks.

Revelle, Northwestern and the Consortium will hold a virtual community forum on Tuesday, July 23, at 7 p.m. to discuss updates on both the Ryan Field rebuild and the temporary lakefront stadium. Residents can register

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