Rain slows work on Formula One track

[NickHolt]

Rain slows work on Formula One track

 

By John Maher, Austin American-Statesman

 

Austin, Texas - Heavy rains this week slowed, but did not halt, construction at Austin's Formula One track.

 

Project manager Rocky Williams said there were probably 100 to 150 workers at the Circuit of the Americas on Thursday. That was less than half the normal workforce of late, which has been about 350, but much more than the 20 to 50 workers Williams said were at the site on a stormy and soggy Wednesday.

 

Southeast Travis County, where the $300 million racetrack is being built, was one of the areas hit hardest by Wednesday's deluge. Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, just northwest of the track, received 5.67 inches of rain while nearby Creedmoor recorded seven inches.

 

On Wednesday morning, a stretch of FM 812 about three miles east of the circuit was narrowed to one lane because of flooding. On Thursday, pools of water remained on some nearby farmland and the 1,100-acre circuit site, some of which sits in a flood plain.

 

"We have standing water in certain areas," Williams said. "We go and pump it out."

 

He said Thursday there was standing water on the north end of the site, near an electrical substation, but that work was continuing on the paddock. About 25 to 30 percent of the concrete for the paddock — the garage for the F1 racing teams — has been poured.

 

Paving of the 3.4-mile circuit will not begin until spring. Because of the instability of the native clay soils, the ground that will be underneath the track was dug out to a depth of nine feet and filled with more stable soil.

 

The track has an elevation change of 133 feet, so the rains could have created some erosion.

 

"If it does wash down, we'll bring it back up," Williams said of the fill.

 

Williams said the rain was not enough to affect the overall construction schedule for the track, which is to be the site of the inaugural United States Grand Prix on Nov. 18.

 

"We've planned for rain events throughout construction," Williams said. "We saw what the regional (rainfall) average is, and we're coming off the worst drought in the area in years. We did not spend as many rain days early on in the project (as projected)."