New Vikings Stadium Nearly Quarter Complete

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Officials are confident the Minnesota Vikings' new $1 billion stadium will be completed on time in 2016.

Reporters and photographers were given a tour of the construction site in downtown Minneapolis Monday. Nine months after the old Metrodome was demolished, officials say the new stadium is 23 percent complete as of the end of September.

Chairwoman Michele Kelm-Helgren of the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority says more than 650 workers are at the site daily, and over 200 Minnesota companies are part of the project. That workforce is expected to swell to more than 1,100 by next summer.

Thirteen cranes are operating, and two more will be added. Mortenson Construction says concrete operations are in full swing, with 55,000 cubic yards of concrete poured.

The Vikings are set to play in their new stadium in 2016.