By Charles Owens
For Bluefield Daily Telegraph
Bluefield — Work should be getting underway soon on a number of planned additions to city park in Bluefield.
The Bluefield Board of Directors approved bids Tuesday for several of those projects, including a new turf for the splash pad and an expanded walking trail that will encompass much of the park’s interior.
A $31,414 bid was awarded to Top Dog Concrete for the splash pad concrete project, and a $63,301.80 bid was awarded to Playground Professionals LLC for the splash pad turf project.
The board also approved a bid of $96,800 with Exterior Services SWV Inc. for the walking trail project at city park.
The hope is to have all of the splash pad upgrades, and the expanded walking trail, ready in time for the Fourth of July weekend, which this year will celebrate America’s 250th birthday with a number of planned activities at the park.
“That’s our deadline,” Rick Showalter, director of parks and recreation for the city, said. “I can’t guarantee it to the public because you just never know what can happen. But I mean we would love to be open on July 4th for that event, and that’s our plan. That’s how we’re pushing everybody forward, and we’re keeping our fingers crossed. That will be a big celebration for the 250th, and there will be a lot more advertisements that will happen on that event.”
The splash pad originally opened to the public last July, but isn’t expected reopen this year until the planned improvements are completed, including the new shades, turf and concrete work.
“So as you know, we opened up the splash pad last year in the middle of the summer there and we were kind of bare bones,” Showalter said. “You know there was no restroom facilities inside the fenced area. No concessions really there except for the little hut that we had and grass and dirt was a problem. So we knew that phase two was coming along. We had funding for that. There is shade structure that will go up around there. Around that will be the concrete work, which was approved today, and that concrete will go underneath the building and also go around the shade structures.”
The new turf will ensure that grass and dirt doesn’t become a problem at the splash pad when it reopens this summer, Showalter said.
A new concession area, changing area and restrooms also are still planned at the site.
The third bid approved by the city board Tuesday will allow for improvements to a walking trail that will encompass the interior of the park.
Showalter said an existing walking trail in that area is in “desperate need” of improvement and will be expanded as part of the contract. As part of the project, the existing trail will be repaved and its width will be expanded by five feet. Once the work is finished, Showalter said visitors will be able to walk from one of the end of the park to the next and back.
“The existing trail doesn’t really connect, so that if you are runner and you want to do the big loop, you couldn’t,” he said. “You were just backtracking. This will actually create a loop if you will.”
Showalter said work also will be getting underway soon on other additions to city park.
“There are two new water fountains that are going in down there with dog drinking areas underneath, and that was through a grant we got through the Community Foundations of the Virginias,” he said. “And so our crews are really staying busy prepping stuff for the construction.”
The splash pad was completed through a $422,000 grant from the Shott Foundation and a $211,235 grant from the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
Read more from Bluefield Daily Telegraph, here
