A foul smell wafting across 19th Street near Ousdahl Road should soon dissipate, as construction crews prepare to clean up after their dirt-hauling operations in the area, a KU official said.

Mark Reiske, associate director for design and construction management at Kansas University, said that odor complaints in the area could be attributable either to piles of dirt dumped on the old “Practice Field No. 3,” adjacent to KU’s soccer field, or perhaps to sewer backups in the area after severe storms last week.

If the soil indeed smells, he said, “that will go away when it dries.”

Either way, Reiske said, the dirt is from the field being removed from KU’s baseball stadium, where a new turf field is set to be installed. And crews plan to be finished hauling dirt today, after which time they’ll get out sweepers and start clearing soiled areas of 19th Street and Naismith Drive.

The displaced dirt is being used to restore grass to an area that had been covered in gravel and used for staging construction equipment during a recent $41 million expansion and renovation of Allen Fieldhouse.