There have been longer projects in the City of Bridgeport – like the current work on the Bridgeport Indoor Recreation Complex and the existing outdoor one. However, there are few projects with a price tag well under $1 million that have taken as long to complete as the one city officials signed off on last month.

 

According to Bridgeport Parks and Recreation Deputy Director Joe Shuttleworth, a project approved by City Council of June of 2015 finally is done and seeing use. The Hinkle & Deegan Lakes Tennis Courts are officially open after a project initially set to cost $160,000 to hopefully do a resurfacing project that same year ended up exceeding $250,000 and was completed more than two years later.

 

“The final pieces were finished up two weeks ago,” said Shuttleworth. “The last things needing done were some pieces of gates that needed installed and even before that there were people using the facility. I’m happy that it’s done and I’m not sure I’ve seen anything compare to it as far as issues in my 22 years here.”

 

Most of the issues, as it turned out, were beyond anyone’s control. The first major issue was one that increased the price by six figures and was one those putting the project together were aware they may run into.

 

During an exploration of the subsurface, problems were discovered that were determined needing to be fixed. At the time, in September of 2015, P&R Director Don Burton said the subsurface woes needed to be addressed so the problems that led to the need of the initial project wouldn’t be required to be done again a few years later.

 

Incredibly, during the subsurface excavation Shuttleworth said multiple problems were found, including the fill initially used. He said part of the fill included old trash.

 

“What that led to, along with water runoff issues, was movement under the courts. Movement under anything like that will result in cracking and deterioration of the surface and that’s what we had there for years before this fix,” he said.

 

That wasn’t the only issue leading to delays.

 

“We had a lot of weather issues where we had to have several days of warm, dry weather in a row and we never got it. Then we had the subsurface issues and issues on the contractor end that the contractor handled and fixed and the end result was a great product that took longer than anyone anticipated,” said Shuttleworth. “The good news is that what we have now is really outstanding.”

 

Shuttleworth said while court right now is fully operational, he said that it’s also eye pleasing. He said the color scheme and new fencing is a great look.

 

“The main thing is for it to serve the community, but you can look at it and tell how nice it looks,” he said. “The color just pops from it.”

 

The project was nearly completed last year. However, after it was blacktopped it had to be torn up due to elevation issues.

 

“The contractor remedied that, but then as work began again a small section of the new blacktop failed the quality control testing the engineer on the project is responsible for testing,” said Shuttleworth. “That issue wasn’t due to the contractor, but it still had to be milled up and replaced.”

 

Once those issues were addressed last year, the temperatures – that needed to be above 50 degrees for several days – led to the project being pushed to this year. Finally, the surfacing material, fencing, painting and other items were able to be completed.

 

“We really hope the community comes out and enjoys them. We’re glad it’s finally complete and we hope people will be glad everything was done correctly, even though it took much longer than anticipated,” he said.