What’s that smell?
Hot rubberized asphalt that creates a noticeable odor will be installed at Hayward Field intermittently for the next two months, according to a notice on the University of Oregon Campus Planning and Facility Management website.
The odor associated with the installation will smell like “new asphalt being installed on a roadway” and will pose no safety hazards for students, UO spokesperson Molly Blancett said.
To install the rubberized asphalt, the materials will arrive in cube form and be melted down and applied with squeegees. It will then be applied in multiple layers to create a thick, walkable surface.
The material will be used to waterproof approximately 100,000 square feet of the concourse level of the stadium.
“We recognize this may be inconvenient to students, staff and faculty. We appreciate their patience as we work hard to complete this incredible facility,” Blancett said.
According to the Material Safety Data Sheet, construction workers will be required to wear gloves and protective gear to avoid danger.
Blancett said the installation process is “periodic and intermittent” and students living on campus will not receive warnings before each individual installation.
“It is challenging to have a planned duration for this advisory due to the weather sensitivity of the application,” according to the CPFM website. “The hot rubber cannot be applied when raining. Hoffman Construction is estimating this activity may continue off and on for two months pending weather.”
The CPFM website posted a notice of the odor on April 18 and an advisory was sent out to students via QuickQuack last Thursday.
“I think it’s interesting because people live right next to [Hayward], and people walk around that area a lot,” Alialani Yamafuji, a first-year student living in Kalapuyah Ilihi said. “So the smell is going to make people not want to walk around that area.”
The Hayward Field construction project, which launched in the summer of 2018 and is funded primarily through gifts from Phil and Penny Knight, is scheduled to complete in 2020.
The newly renovated Hayward is also scheduled to host the 2020 Olympic Trials and the 2021 and 2022 NCAA Track and Field Championships.
