Millburn Township and the Board of Education broke ground Tuesday, Sept. 1, on a $5.67 million project to install synthetic turf at three Millburn High School athletic fields and add lighting at all four.

The project came in roughly $1.3 million under its projected $7 million budget, according to a township announcement. The township and the school district are splitting the cost.

Thomas & Sons Builders LLC won the contract at $5,666,283, the lowest of six bids. The Millburn Board of Education approved the award on July 23, and the Township Committee formally concurred on Aug. 11, TAPinto reported.

Two multi-purpose fields and the varsity baseball field will get 189,000 square feet of synthetic turf with organic infill. Thirteen LED light poles, ranging from 60 to 100 feet tall, will go up at those three fields plus Miller Field, which hosts varsity softball. The township said the organic infill is safer than traditional options and requires less daily maintenance for grounds crews.

"This is a monumental project for the Township," committeeman Ben Stoller said at the groundbreaking. "By partnering with the school district we are able to offer more field options for the whole community as the Township's robust recreation programs continue to grow."

Stoller sits on the Recreation Commission, the Joint Fields committee and the Finance committee, the three bodies that shepherded the project. At the Board of Education's July 23 vote, he called the contract award a "culmination" of community collaboration, according to TAPinto.

The upgrade is expected to add about 1,120 playable hours for community recreation programs and reduce weather-related cancellations. Project engineer Rob Walsh of EI Associates told the Millburn Planning Board on July 15 that synthetic turf fields can be used "within moments after the rain stops."

Walsh said at that July meeting he hoped to finish by November. The groundbreaking came about a month later than the early-August start originally projected, so the completion timeline is unclear. No updated target date has been announced.

The township has not said when Millers' fall sports teams will play their first game on the new surface.