Inclement winter weather has delayed the progress of construction of the Wright City High School track, project leaders told the school board at its monthly meeting Monday night. A spokesman at the meeting estimates the project is running about 10 weeks behind schedule because of frozen and wet conditions that have brought work on the project to a standstill as Mother Nature took her course. Originally scheduled for completion at the end of April, the work is under way but progress has been slow, said John Berglund of Bond Wolfe Architects, which is overseeing the project. The area has been dug out, brush has been cleared, bleachers have been moved and some of the utility work has been done. He underscored that contractors from PCE are working feverishly to pick up as many days as possible, but will be limited in what they can do to make up for lost time. "When the ground hasn't been frozen, it's really been too soaked to make it feasible to work on," Berglund said. "The original plan was for the field to be ready for play at Homecoming at the end of October, but because of the delays, timing for use of the field will be wait-and-see. Putting in sod is a consideration, but an expensive one." Conditioning of the football field is more complex and time-intensive than construction of the track, Berglund told board members, but the track construction also is complicated by the weather since the ground must be dry before paving can proceed. Board President Austin Jones said he is cautious about more delays because heavy rain is anticipated during the spring, but that the district must make sure the work is done right even at the expense of athletic schedules and possibly the additional costs of some materials, such as asphalt, that have gone up in price since the original bid. On another construction front, architects said the HVAC installation at the high school is on track and that work is scheduled to begin during spring break in mid-March. Funding for the project was approved by voters last April as part of the Prop KIDS (Keep Improving District Schools) $3.5-million no-tax increase bond issue.