Shunpike Opening Postponed to June 18

Chatham Township Mayor Nicole Hagner said Thursday that the opening of has been delayed due to more bad weather.

The opening ceremonies will take place on June 18, a postponment of two weeks from the announced earlier this month and months after the project was originally scheduled to be completed. Hagner said the field is expected to be open for use before the opening ceremonies.

Township Engineer John Ruschke said the contractor’s progress was slow last week due to the heavy rain. “He did what he could, but the major earth moving task came to a halt due to the weather,” he said.

The Township Committee had approved the contractor to work on Sundays in May in an effort to get the project completed in time for June 4, but because rain fell for over a full week almost no work could be done in that time.

“This week the field conditions are better, and he started work again today [Thursday] and is moving forward. We are putting a lot of pressure on the contractor now that we have some nicer weather.”

The contractor will not be working on May 29 because of the holiday weekend. It is unclear whether they will work on June 5 and June 12 to finish the project.

A new electric pole was up at Shunpike Field along the roadside on Thursday, and a control box was installed near the bathrooms

Castle Park is still closed to the public while construction work is being done.

Chatham Patch contributor Christy Potter Kass contributed reporting to this article.