Construction at Austin’s Grand Prix site not 24×7

Promoters of the U.S. Grand Prix have been told to have the track ready to host a Formula One race by June, 2012. They would appear to be on very tight deadline but promoters haven’t pushed the panic button — at least not yet.

A couple years ago, when heavy rains caused contractors to fall behind on the construction of the north end zone project at the University of Texas football stadium, construction literally was ramped up to a 24×7 pace.

Construction at the F1 site southeast of Austin has increased in the past two weeks but it’s more like 12×6, limited to daylight hours with Sundays still a day of rest. Here’s a Sunday shot of about a half dozen idled pieces of big machinery.

There’s usually a bunch of smaller pieces of equipment, pickup trucks and frontloaders, on hand but they might have been tucked away somewhere else Sunday on the 970-acre site. In the past few days a lot of ground has been cleared on what will be a parking lot. Construction is now visible from a mile away on FM 812. The Statesman