East Providence Building New Sports Field At Middle School

EAST PROVIDENCE, RI — East Providence will build a new athletic field on a four-acre sit behind Riverside Middle School, city officials said Wednesday.

The project will go out to bid on March 29, when construction firms will compete to create the new field.

City officials said the field, will include new parking and other improvements, such as a new irrigation system, fencing and netting. The improvements will benefit Riverside Middle School athletic programs, the Junior Towns, East Providence Mohawks, the East Providence Youth Soccer Association and neighborhood children. The new area will serve the parking needs of visitors to both the Riverside Recreation Field and the new multipurpose athletic field, town officials said.

The field will be designed for use by football, soccer and lacrosse teams. City officials said they will install football goalposts and repurpose the 15,000 "Friends of Townie Athletics" scoreboard from the former turf field at the high school.

City officials said the request for proposal comes after capital funds were allocated during the 2017 budget season for additional parking behind the school. As part of this project, the city previously awarded the contract to prepare the land for construction.

The city's contractor began the clearing process in preparation for the construction of the new athletic field and associated parking. City officials said work on the construction of the fields will begin this spring.