The Navy said it began site work last week to re-sod the Radford High School football field after decades-old military debris discovered there more than two years ago led to significant remediation work.

The buried debris was found to include asbestos-containing material, chemical contaminants and small munitions-related debris, the Navy said.

The service in 2014 awarded an $8 million contract to clean up the former naval salvage yard rubble and dredged debris found during initial excavation work to replace the high school’s cinder running track with a synthetic track.

“On behalf of the Navy, I offer a big thank you to the parents, teachers and especially the students of Radford High School for their patience and understanding,” Rear Adm. John Fuller, commander, Navy Region Hawaii and Naval Surface Group Middle Pacific, said in a release.

“We were and are committed to doing a careful and thorough job in restoring the Radford track and field. Our highest priority continues to be the safety, health and welfare of people, especially young people,” Fuller said.

A Navy contractor began work last week, including scraping vegetation and weeds, placing new topsoil and shaping the field for drainage. Over the next two weeks, the Navy said it will continue field preparations and begin installing fresh sod.

The Navy previously said it would remove about a foot of clean soil from the surface of the football field and 1 to 3 feet of contaminated soil. Among items found on the excavated track site were a small projectile fuse and a few small arms ammunition cartridge casings.

The athletic field was built on former Navy property at the edge of a former naval disposal site, the Makalapa Crater landfill, where construction debris and dredged material were dumped going back to the 1930s.

Between December 2013 and January 2014, a state Department of Education construction contractor encountered buried debris and stained soil during excavation work to replace the old cinder running track, the Navy said.

The DOE stopped construction work and closed the field in January 2014. Since then, the Navy has been working on a cleanup. Chemical analysis identified that a cleanup was needed for the excavated soil, especially for arsenic, lead, mercury and dioxins, according to a Navy report.

The Navy said the material found at the Radford track area was most likely part of past disposal actions by the Navy salvage yard operations and dredged wastes at the Makalapa Crater site adjacent to the H-1 freeway and the school. That site was being investigated for contaminants in 2014. Historical aerial photos showed the area of the track appeared to have been built out from the side of the crater in the 1950s.

“We appreciate that this project is moving forward. The Hawaii state Department of Education is grateful for the patience of the Radford High School community throughout the delays,” Office of School Facilities and Support Services Assistant Superintendent Dann Carlson said in the Navy release.

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Star-Advertiser reporter Timothy Hurley contributed to this report.