Orchard Park, N.Y. (WBEN) - Construction at the new Highmark Stadium site in Orchard Park is approaching the one-year mark since shovels first hit the ground along Abbott Road, across the street from the current Highmark Stadium.
At this point in time, the exoskeleton of the new stadium is currently going up with several steel beams being erected from the construction pit. It is estimated the steel is about a third of the way up in the tallest part of construction to date, which is at the North end of the structure.
A process that started with the excavation of more than 650,000 cubic yards of dirt with the help of over 100,000 pounds of explosives is now seeing the foundational steel structure of the future home of the Buffalo Bills taking shape.
"The numbers are impressive, because the scale of this project is so large," said John Polka, Vice President of Stadium Development for the Bills. "As we were walking around there, we could spend all day walking around, showing everybody what's going on. The by the numbers that we put together are usually impressive because of how big the building is."
And that's only scratching the surface with what is still to come in Orchard Park over the next several months on site.
"Most of what you're going to see between now and the start of the season is the continuation of the building's steel rising up from where it is today," Polka noted in an interview with WBEN. "I think it's going to be a really interesting season for fans to come week-over-week, home game-after-home game to see what's going on."
Polka says it'll be right around the Week 1 opener against the Arizona Cardinals in September when people should start seeing the structural steel for the canopy being set in place. That canopy is expected to cover around 64% of the fans in attendance for a home Bills game.
That's not the only progress fans are going to see with the new stadium project as the football season carries on.
"Towards the end of the season, depending on how things are going, they may start to see some of the façade pieces in place, or some of the skin of the building start to go in. That's probably more likely into the spring, but there's definitely going to be some impressive progress through the season," Polka stated. "It wasn't a planned part of the schedule, but the way it worked out, I think it's going to be a really interesting season for the fans."
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While there will continue to be some work that needs to be finished up on the exoskeleton of the stadium, Polka says the substantial portion of the steel element of the structure should be completed by the end of the 2024 football season. Then by spring of next year, crews will have started work erecting the exterior metal panels, glazing, windows, glass, and other elements of the stadium.
This upcoming season of football in Orchard Park may be the opportunity for fans to visually see the most progress being made at the new Highmark Stadium. That's because by the start of the 2025 football season, much of the work will be taking place on the inside of the stadium, where people won't get much of a look at progress.
"Things will be going on the following season, but that'll be mostly site work and site development around the stadium. Because don't forget, the development of the new stadium site, we only have a portion of that land captured right now," Polka noted. "Lot 4, the lot that's adjacent to O'Neill's essentially on the corner of Southwestern and Abbott, all of that parking lot becomes part of the new stadium development. So throughout the '25-26 season, I would expect that fans will see a lot of site development. But from a pure building standpoint, this year is when you're going to see the most progress from outside."
Another element of the construction process that people may begin to notice a change is the number of workers and tradespeople making their way to the construction site.
"The daily number of tradespersons on site each day is about 400-to-450. That's about a third of what we will expect it to be next summer at the peak. So anywhere from 1,200 to 1,400, maybe even up as high as 1,500 at its absolute peak," Polka explained. "There's a lot still to come, a lot of effort still to be put in, and a lot of folks will be here working on it."
For Polka, it's incredible to think back to a year ago when several members of the Bills organization and other local officials stood on a site that was just starting to be excavated, compared to what many see along Abbott Road now. He takes things even one step further, going back to just a few months ago with another milestone marker for the site.
"The beginning of February of this year was the first piece of steel that was set. So all of the steel and concrete that you see above grade out there today is since February of this year. So the progress is just incredible, and you lose sight of that sometimes when you're doing it day-to-day and you're looking at it every day, you lose sight of how quickly things have happened," Polka said. "It's sometimes refreshing to have folks who visit the site who have not been here in a while, and they're just kind of taken aback by the amount of progress since they were last year."
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While there's still plenty to come on the construction site, Polka adds the team is working on something for the fans for them to get their own taste of the stadium experience in Orchard Park.
"I will tell you, we are working on a plan where fans may have an opportunity just to park in one of our parking lots off of Abbott Road to be able to park and watch some of the progress, if they want to take a photo. We're working on a spot for fans to safely do that," he said. "We certainly want to discourage fans from stopping on Abbott or pulling off into an area that might be dangerous, or crossing Abbott Road. So we're working on an area that we may be able to announce or advertise pretty soon where people can do that. Again just a spot to pull off for a minute, take in what's going on, grab a picture and head out."