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Original Briarwood Playground Unit Replaced as City Parks Department Does $25,000 in Improvements

By Jeff Toquinto on June 12, 2018 via Connect-Bridgeport.com

Years ago, when the Briarwood development became part of Bridgeport, the city was given green space for the purpose of creating a neighborhood park for the new community. With the developer donating the equipment, it was installed and has since been maintained by the Bridgeport Parks and Recreation Department.
 
“That was many years ago,” said P&R Director Joe Shuttleworth. “The playground unit was a wooden post unit and it had a long life, but it began having some rot issues and the playground was getting unsafe.”
 
Parks officials began noticing the deterioration several years ago. Because of that, funds began to be escrowed to replace the main piece of playground equipment.
 
“We eventually had enough money to bid it out and chose a playground to replace it,” said Shuttleworth. “Over the winter we completed the bid process so that we would have it ready to go for most of the warm weather months.”
 
With warm weather months in full gear, the playground is in operation. The playground was purchased from Miracle Recreation for a cost of $25,000.
 
The playground includes more than just the new unit. There are new border and new safety surfacing as well.
 
“At the end of the day, we wanted a nice playground for the residents and we feel that we’ve accomplished that,” said Shuttleworth.
 
The project would have been done earlier, but one issue played a big role in it being pushed back a few weeks. The issue was the weather.
 
“We had a lot of rainy days that delayed things,” said Shuttleworth.
 
Editor's Note: Top and bottom photos show finishing touches being put in place, while Joe Shuttleworth looks over construction late last month amist recent heavy rains.


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