Northampton Area School District residents may be able to use the new Al Erdosy Stadium perimeter track for walking when it's not in use for athletic competitions and events.

School Director Jean Rundle asked if the track, once it's completed, would be open to district residents for walking.

NASD Assistant Superintendent Jeanette Gilliland said she is working on that possibility.

NASD Superintendent Joseph Kovalchik said he would back the idea.

The stadium perimeter track is being replaced. The natural grass football field will be replaced with artificial turf. New stadium lighting will be installed.

There will be a new stadium main entrance, plus additional parking to the north of the stadium on a new lot adjacent to the middle school.

The stadium improvements are part of the $80.7 million Northampton Area Middle School and Campus Renovation Project.

"Things are progressing nicely," Christopher W. Haller, senior project manager, D'Huy Engineering Inc., told school officials in his report at the March 23 school board meeting.

Floors are being placed in the three-story classroom wing of the school, ceilings are up and work continues on the gymnasium, cafeteria and field house, Haller said.

"There will be lots of activity in the pool area once the weather clears up," Haller said.

The three-story, 272,000-square-foot middle school, to accommodate 1,500 sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students, is on schedule to open for fall 2015 classes, the board was told.

The campus project includes the new Stadium Drive, a new athletic field (at the site of the old middle school) and a new school bus drop-off area, which will also provide extra parking when classes aren't in session.