The popularity of soccer is high right now thanks to the World Cup.

That interest could fade over the course of the next four years until the 2018 tournament, but Mon Valley fans may get something to cheer about midway down the stretch.

Local soccer enthusiasts are hopeful a new two-field facility in West Mifflin will be open for action in 2016.

Work is under way on a project to build the fields on borough owned property on the border of Pittsburgh's Lincoln Place neighborhood at the intersection of Interboro Avenue and Apdale Street.

The borough was awarded a state Department Conservation and Natural Resources grant worth $154,000 to develop the lot that until several years ago was owned by LaFarge North America, which still operates a slag quarry adjacent to the property.

Right now the site isn't much more than an overgrown wasteland but officials said work is going on sporadically to fill in and level the property, which was used as a slag dump and was more recently a baseball field.

“It took over 20 years to get to this point,” said West Mifflin Mayor Chris Kelly, who has been a proponent of the project since taking office in 2009.

There have been delays related to state environmental permitting and property issues.

The funding for the project was obtained as a matching grant with the borough and LaFarge donating land, labor and other in-kind services to the effort.

Borough engineer Ray Antonelli said there is much fill work to be done before the land is capped to the standard required by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

The existing surface can't be excavated or bulldozed; he said the only way to develop the level surface required for soccer fields is to add new rock and soil.

Antonelli said under the time frame of the grant, the work must be completed by next summer. He said the process has slowed but added, “I think with a concerted effort we can get caught up.”

Even when the fill work is complete, Kelly said it probably will take another year for grass to take root on the playing surface.

Antonelli said the fields will be side by side with a two-sided section of bleachers in between. The plans call for the addition of a 109-space parking lot at the front of the property and the rehabilitation of an existing concession stand.

Dan Bayless, a coach and board member of the West Mifflin Soccer Club, said the facility will be good news for his group when it finally opens.

“We really don't have a place to call our own,” Bayless said of the approximately 300 players between the ages of 5 and 19 who play in the league. Right now, Bayless said his organization plays at Borland Field near the Port Authority garage on Route 885 and at Emerson Elementary but said neither facility is ideal.

When the new park opens, he said, “We'll be able to build our club. We feel like that with a new field with concession stands, we can attract players, parents and even adult leagues.”

Kelly said he thinks the field will attract tournament play and be popular with visiting players and their families because it is close to lodging and restaurants.

He said a lot of people don't realize how popular youth soccer has become nor how demanding its schedule can be.

“I didn't know how big it was until my granddaughter started playing,” Kelly explained. “They go everywhere.”

Kelly said the borough is looking at the possibility of adding an access road to the site from Buttermilk Hollow Road. Currently, the main access to the site is off Apdale Street.

Eric Slagle is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-664-9161, ext. 1966, or eslagle@tribweb.com.

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