Construction on Stadium to Slow Traffic on Serrano

By Martin Henderson

Traffic on Serrano Road on Monday and Tuesday is expected to be slow as it passes El Toro High School. 

Construction on the football stadium will require a crane to off-load at least 40,000 pounds of aluminum that will help make up the home side bleacher seating. 

Last week, about 15,000 to 18,000 pounds of aluminum bleacher seating was off-loaded via crane for the visitor seating, which will be closest to Serrano Road. 

Iron workers last week erected stringers, columns and beams for the visitor side; each stringer—the support that runs from the bottom of the bleachers to the top that supports the seating—weighs about 2,000 pounds. There are 46 of them supporting the visitor seating.

Traffic shouldn't be blocked while the equipment is being loaded over the fence, but there will be lots of cones to pay attention to and drivers should exercise extreme caution through the area.

Four light standards, about 80 feet high and armed with 15 lights apiece, have already been erected on the site—two to each side. Also going in is a building that will serve as a ticket booth to access the stadium.

It's hoped that the project will be completed in time for the Chargers to play a home football game this season, though the Visitor bleachers aren't expected to be completed for another five weeks, and construction has yet to begin on the Home side.

El Toro, which begins its second seasons in the South Coast League, has home games scheduled this season against La Habra (Aug. 30), Corona del Mar (Sept. 13), Villa Park (Sept. 27), Trabuco Hills (Oct. 25) and Mission Viejo (Nov. 8). 

El Toro currently plays home games at Trabuco Hills; the game against Mission Viejo is the league finale.