ADAMS TWP — Mars Area School District is making progress toward completing a new set of tennis courts and beginning construction on the elementary school renovation project.

Mars’ school board approved a construction bid for the tennis courts Tuesday, April 8, totaling $537,600. The bid went to Dun Rite Construction and Paving, LLC. The school board also approved a bid of $101,400 for electrical work around the tennis courts, awarding it to Westmoreland Electrical Group.

The project includes five new courts with lighting around it.

The school board also approved bids related to electrical work for the elementary school project. The board awarded a $150,000 bid to A-1 Electric, Inc., despite several board members calling the amount “outrageous.”

Jon Thomas of Thomas & Williamson Program Management told the board and superintendent Mark Gross at the board meeting that its aggressive schedule for the elementary school project has paid off so far.

“We weren’t sure at the very beginning of the project, were we going to get our township approval. Were we going to get our conservation district approval? We’ve got all of those,” Thomas said. “We’re in the construction documents phase, as a matter of fact the construction documents phase is almost done.”

The estimate cost of the elementary school renovation is just shy of $24 million, and construction could begin by May.