Ohio State Gets New and Improved 200-Meter Indoor Track with Help from an Advanced Polymer from NCFI Geotechnical

HOUSTON, TX—Track and Field at Ohio State’s French Field House needed a major facelift to be ready to compete in the upcoming NCAA season.

“The university’s 200-meter indoor track needed serious repair,” says Joe Work, owner of the Cleveland-based company, Mr. Level. “At some point in time, every track in the US faces problems from sub-surface soil erosion. The track inside French Field House has been resurfaced many times because of settling issues due to erosion. However, the cause of the settling issues had not been addressed. It needed void filling in the ground deep beneath the field house, leveling then resurfacing to meet NCAA standards, so they called us.”

Work says the university faced two choices: Excavate the entire track and replace it, which would cost in the neighborhood of $1-1.2 million and shut down the track for many months—perhaps throwing the season into question—or find a less invasive and expensive solution. “We counseled them to use a deep injection method of a polyurethane system called Terrathane™ to fills the voids caused by erosion and stabilize the soil, then lift the track to the 1/8th inch exacting standard of the NCAA.”

Work says his company first set up five-foot grid patterns, drilled two-inch holes into the subsurface and soil to depths of three, six, and nine feet, then inserted three 5/8-inch rods per hole and injected the polyurethane foam at each level. “We injected 35-50 lbs. of Terrathane, which expands to fills voids, into every hole at each level. Because of sensitivity to the NCAA requirements, we set up a system of laser levels to monitor any movement as the polyurethane carefully lifted the track to ensure we met the exacting standard.”

According to Work, the project went smoothly, and the university was completely satisfied with the results. “They saved hundreds of thousands of dollars, and it only took five days. The university resurfaced the track, and it was usable once the asphalt cured. They’ll have a new and improved track to compete on when the season roll around.”

Work’s company has been using NCFI’s Terrathane for more than seven years because of the quality and consistency of the product, and because the company support comes from people who’ve been applicators or engineers. “NCFI Geo knows how to solve problems like this Ohio State track, and they provide us on-site support to make sure we have what we need every time.”