Sports fields and an obstacle course have gone up along the Back Cove trail in Portland. The facilities were updated and reinstalled after a stormwater retention project required them to be razed four years ago.

The project, which ran 18 months longer than expected, involved installing several large tanks underground to collect and hold excess stormwater and sewage before it is pumped to the East End Treatment Plant. Brad Roland, senior project engineer with Portland’s Public Works department, said the new stormwater tanks are being tested now and are likely to be operational in about two weeks if no problems arise during testing.

“I’m pretty pleased but I have to see them operational first,” Roland said of the project.

The Back Cove South Storage Conduit project is part of an extended effort by the city to reduce the amount of raw sewage and polluted stormwater runoff being discharged into the cove during heavy rains, when the flow could otherwise exceed the plant’s capacity. The project was supposed to be completed by September 2022, but unexpected issues with the soil in the area delayed the work by more than two years, ultimately costing about $1 million more than the original estimate of $41 million.

The project is funded by wastewater fees, which are based on water usage by homeowners and businesses. In order to build the storage tanks that will alleviate the strain on a dated sewer and stormwater runoff system, the city dug up the soccer field and obstacle course that once sat between the Back Cove trail and Interstate 295 and built the tanks underground.

With the project nearly completed, the city has reinstalled the facilities that were razed four years ago.

The field and the section of the Back Cove trail along the field have been rebuilt 2-3 feet higher than they were before to shore up the area against future storms and rising sea levels.

Roland said the obstacle course and vault toilets will be open to the public beginning on Aug. 1. Then, on Sept. 5, there will be a grand opening of the athletic fields — one regulation size soccer field and another smaller field.

Though the fields will be accessible beginning in September, Roland said there will be no lines painted on them until the spring. That’s also when the city will begin offering field reservations.

Roland said the city opted to wait to paint and rent out the soccer field because grass has only recently been planted and needs time to grow throughout the fall.

The new obstacle course around the field features 10 stations, including a climbing wall, monkey bars and logs to jump over.