Dive Brief:
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After heavy rain caused one-day delays at the U.S. Open at Arthur Ashe Stadium every year between 2008 and 2012, the construction of a retractable roof is on track to cover the Flushing, NY, arena by the 2016 tournament.
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Work on a 5,000-ton structure to support the translucent fabric roof began about a year ago, but it was halted and concealed from view during the 2014 U.S. Open last fall. Likewise, contractors will suspend construction — and remove cranes and other evidence of the project — for this year’s U.S. Open, scheduled for Aug. 31 through Sept. 13.
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That will add up to five months to the construction schedule at the world’s largest tennis arena, according to the Associated Press.
Dive Insight:
The venues for two other Grand Slam tennis tournaments — Wimbledon and the Australian Open — aalready have retractable roofs. The stadium housing the French Open is expected to add a roof by 2019. That tournament was delayed by 2.5 hours on Sunday because of rain.
Because adding a roof and a structure to support it is a time-consuming process, the start-and-stop construction schedule is inevitable, but not ideal, Danny Zausner, the chief operating officer of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at Arthur Ashe Stadium, told the Associated Press. "You'd be hard-pressed to find another project that stops for three months," he said. "It's not the way you want to do it."
View photos of the construction here.
