In Green Bay, Richard Ryman reports a gateway-style structure downtown “that will be part of the Packers Heritage Trail” was approved yesterday by the city Redevelopment Authority. The structure “will be 56 feet wide, flanked by lighted glass and brick walls, with two 27-foot goal post-like stanchions in the middle.” The glass in the walls will be “etched with photographs from the Lombardi era on one side and the Lambeau era on the other.” Packers Heritage Trail Foundation Treasurer Scott King said that the foundation would “like to begin work in April and have the structure completed" by Packers training camp in late July (GREEN BAY PRESS-GAZETTE, 12/12).
CROSSTOWN TRAFFIC: Mariners and Amtrak reps yesterday while speaking to a city design-review board said that the proposed plans for a new sports arena in Seattle's Sodo neighborhood “jeopardize pedestrian access and safety.” Mariners attorney Melody McCutcheon said that an agreement between the team and arena investor Chris Hansen to limit simultaneous events at Safeco Field, CenturyLink Field and the new arena "could minimize conflicts with traffic and pedestrians.” The Mariners have “previously opposed the arena's Sodo location on grounds that it could worsen traffic congestion on game days” (SEATTLE TIMES, 12/12).
OLYMPIC PROPORTIONS: In London, Nathalie Thomas wrote British firms involved in the construction of the city's Olympic Park are being “taken out to Korea on government trade missions in an attempt to win lucrative contracts" ahead of the ‘18 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. Douglas Barrett, head of trade and investment at the British embassy in Seoul, said that he expected PyeongChang '18 organizers "to be interested in replicating some of the temporary structures in Stratford -- such as the basketball arena -- to keep costs down” (TELEGRAPH.co.uk, 12/11). Meanwhile, EVOLO.us reported Populous, architect of the London Olympic Stadium and ‘14 Sochi Olympic stadium, has "been selected as designers of the new Rostov Stadium" in Russia. It will be the fourth stadium that Populous has designed in Russia to be used for the ‘18 World Cup (EVOLO.us, 12/8).
