Although summer is well past its halfway point, work is continuing to spruce up parts of the city. And Bridgeport Parks and Recreation is in the middle of most of it. Since the start of this week and likely continuing through tomorrow or even through the end of the week, work to enhance the look of the downtown streetscape is taking place.

 

Concrete Technology Incorporated of Bridgeport has been hired by the city to handle the upkeep of the sidewalks in Bridgeport. Parks and Recreation Director Don Burton said the work is being done the entire length of the streetscape, which is from the U.S. Route 50 intersection of Virginia Avenue to near the intersection with Route 131.

 

“The company has gone in and power washed all the stamped concrete,” said Burton. “Now, they’re going back and sealing the stamped concrete and re-caulking the areas where some of the caulking has come up and pulled away.”

 

Burton said work such as this has been done in the past, but it’s been about two years since it was last completed. He said it is basic maintenance that will prolong the life of the sidewalks that were done as part of a multi-phased, multi-million dollar streetscape effort that started in 1999 and has just had its latest phase completed this summer.

 

“The sidewalks, particularly the older sections, were showing some age. Along a main roadway it’s to be expected with the winter salt and cinders that create issues with concrete,” said Burton.

 

As a result of the work, there have been some traffic delays on Main Street. Burton said the delays are minimal at worst.

 

Additional work has also been done along the Main Street corridor. Burton said the city hired Joseph’s Nursery to replace all of the shrubbery along the roadway; much of which was overgrown.

 

Another component of work that was recently done to enhance the look of the Main Street corridor took place at the Benedum Civic Center. Parks and Recreation staff spent several days putting in fresh mulch on the Civic Center grounds.

 

“We do that annually and it gives the facility a nice look,” Burton said.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows workers with Bridgeport's CTI freshening up the city's downtown streetscape sidewalks, while the bottom photo is of Parks and Recreation staff doing mulch work at the Benedum Civic Center recently.