Oak Park River Forest High School District 200

Oak Park River Forest High School (OPRF), located in the near west suburbs of Chicago, is a landlocked urban school district with very limited exterior space on campus available for athletics use. Though the high school had a football field and bleachers, a track had not been possible with the historic layout of the athletic facilities. Prior to Eriksson Engineering Associates, Ltd. (EEA) involvement with the district, the track team used a nearby college for practice and “home” meets. In the early 2020’s, the district faced a dilemma, as their contract for use of the college facility was expiring, they were set to lose access to any track for their team.

Though told by other engineers that a running track could not fit on their campus, EEA found a way to make it possible. Through EEA’s extensive knowledge and experience designing running tracks and fields, we were able accommodate a 400-meter running track with the necessary field events and practice football/soccer field.

To make this project a success, EEA worked collaboratively with the school district and local park district to coordinate use of nearby park district land and school district fields for track, soccer, baseball, softball, lacrosse, and field hockey. The project was also phased to accommodate both the youth and high school athletic seasons to minimize impact for both entities.

In the end, EEA successfully provided OPRF with high-class facilities that will be used for both high school and park district sports, as well as the community at large.