State-of-the-art sports arena in South Omaha

Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha South High School had not hosted a varsity football game since 1946. Collin Field, known as “The Hole”, sat in a natural bowl at 23rd and “L” Streets and was used as South High’s track and practice football field. Lamp Rynearson provided engineering design services for a new multi-sport playing field and track stadium to replace the existing one. Goal: Design a full-sized soccer field meeting the requirements of the annual Nebraska State High School Soccer Tournament that could also be used as a varsity football field. The completed facility has had a major impact on Omaha South High School, located in a neighborhood rich in Hispanic culture, while at the same time providing meaningful social, economic and sustainable design benefits.

Project Quick Facts

  • Redevelopment site with challenging topography and transportation issues.
  • Largest synthetic turf field of any high school in Nebraska.
  • 400 meter double-bend running track configuration.
  • Award Winner: 2010 Engineering Excellence Merit Award - ACEC (American Council of Engineering Companies) Nebraska
    2010 Engineering Excellence Award - National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) – Nebraska
    2010 Green Leaf Award – Omaha By Design

Lamp Rynearson expertise and markets

  • Project Leadership
  • Design
  • Construction Administration
  • Water Resources
  • Permitting
  • $146,000+ in grant money from the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) for using recycled tire rubber.

"I don’t believe there is anyone who knows more about track and field work than Lamp Rynearson."
- Jim Willett, Heritage Services

  • A double bend running track design surrounds the regulation soccer field – a new approach in Nebraska.
  • Recycled, ground up tire rubber as infill material for the synthetic turf field and the synthetic track surface.
  • Stadium site graded to allow for the wide field, running track and stadium grandstands to fit in limited space.
  • 3,200 seat home and visitor grandstands, press box, two team meeting room buildings, concessions and restrooms, parking lot, sidewalks, stadium lighting, state-of-the-art scoreboard, retaining walls, site utilities, beautification of the grounds with sustainable landscaping, and removal and relocation of City of Omaha tennis courts.
  • Repair of a leaking public sanitary sewer pipe under “L” Street.
  • Grading and erosion control permitting and monitoring.
  • Desgin insured the post-project storm runoff from the site did not exceed pre-project levels.
  • Deep limestone aggregate base under the footprint of the proposed permeable synthetic turf playing field was designed to store and slowly release peak flows from the stadium site.
  • Water quality bioswales at each end of the running track.
  • Large, active combined sanitary and storm sewers crossed the site; these City sewers remained active during project design and construction.
  • Multiple Zoning Board of Appeals waivers.
  • Easement allowed stadium structures to be built over two deep, existing combined sewers that crossed under the project site.
  • "Interlocal Cooperation Agreement" between the City of Omaha and the school district.