Officials from the United States Tennis Association talked about 5,000 tons of steel, 1,700 structural beams, 115,000 three-pound bolts and three massive cranes Wednesday.

Those numbers are close to adding up to one roof on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

On Wednesday, the last piece of steel was placed in the superstructure for the long-awaited roof of the stadium, the United States Open’s main court. This year’s tournament, which begins Aug. 31, will be played without a finished roof, but retractable panels and a 200,000-square-foot fabric covering will be added in time for the 2016 Open. The roof will be able to close in five to seven minutes.

The last bit of steel was a small one compared with the imposing structure around it: a 40-foot piece of subway track that will be used as a rail for the retractable panels.

The placement of the track signified more than the end of about nine months of work, which was hampered by a long winter. (“The weather gods were not kind to us,” said Danny Zausner, the chief operating officer of the U.S.T.A. Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.) It was also a celebration of 12 years of research.

Officials’ declarations of this being “a historic moment” and “an amazing milestone” were understandable.

Zausner listed study after study dedicated to finding a plan that was feasible structurally, financially and aesthetically. Starting in 2003, there were five studies over eight years to reach this point.

After losing out on a design competition in one of those studies in 2009, Rossetti, the original architect for Arthur Ashe Stadium, worked for two years on its own to develop a structure that could be built around and above the stadium, which sits on swamplike land.

Rossetti’s plan was announced in August 2013. Considering the years it took to come up with a workable design, the construction itself has gone relatively quickly. The first of the 24 columns that support the roof were erected in November.

Before the Open begins in August, four video boards and sound and lighting systems will be installed in the stadium. Because the geometric pattern of the superstructure would cause unusual shadows, a temporary fabric canopy will cover the south and west sides of the stadium this year.

The canopy — and later, the permanent fabric covering — means that thousands of fans in Arthur Ashe Stadium will be able to sit in the shade.

Zausner said the stadium, the largest in tennis, will maintain its seating capacity of 23,771, though some seats in the highest rows were removed to accommodate two video boards. Seats were added in lower levels to replace those lost, he said.

Gordon Smith, the executive director of the U.S.T.A., called the completion of the superstructure a major step, but only the most obvious one in a renovation that will cost more than $500 million. Work began during the winter on a new grandstand court in the southwestern part of the tennis center. That stadium, which will seat 8,000, and a neighboring village of concession stands will be completed for the 2016 Open.

Construction on a new 14,000-seat Louis Armstrong Stadium will begin after the 2016 Open and is expected to be finished in time for the 2018 tournament.

“We want nothing less than the vision of this facility being the finest tennis venue in the world and the pre-eminent sports facility in New York City,” Smith said.

 

nytimes.com

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