Lambeau Field construction project right on schedule

GREEN BAY -- The construction project at Lambeau Field is right on schedule! The Green Bay Packers announced Thursday the north end zone phase of the project should be finished by next football season. FOX6's Bret Buganski got a first hand look at the dust at the "Frozen Tundra" Thursday.

Work is underway at Lambeau Field in the north and south end zones. Workers say the mild temperatures and lack of snow this winter have expedited the construction process. "You don't have the frost to deal with. The frost isn't in the ground yet, so you can see they're able to excavate in a normal manner," one construction crew member said. Crews say they're having an easier time hammering away to make Lambeau Field more accessible, with the installation of six new elevators to the north. The elevators will stop at levels three, four, six and to a new rooftop viewing platform.

Director of Facility Operations for the Packers, Ted Eisenreich said there is a growing demand to see a Packers game, as well as challenges to expanding the stadium and adding a new scoreboard. "As we move and we put a bigger scoreboard on top, and put the viewing platform on the roof, all the steel that's existing needs to be reinforced to support the new loads," Eisenreich said.

This is a $143 million construction project that also includes nearly 6,700 new seats in the south endzone. "We'll have four elevators and a bank of escalators that will take fans entering into these new levels," Eisenreich said.

The new seats will bring a new style of viewing to Lambeau Field. "It's more of a straight, vertical wall, a wall of fans, if you want to call it that. Many rows, ones and twos of multiple levels, instead of tier seating, so I think the fans will enjoy many different options that we don't have today," Eisenreich said.

As crews work through the unseasonably warm weather, Packers fans will have to wait until 2013 to see the finished product. The multi-million dollar project is funded without tax money. It's all being done through traditional loans and the Packers stock sale that's underway.