Streetstyle skatepark contract awarded Completion date extended by eight weeks The contract for concrete work on the new skateboard park was awarded June 28, at least two weeks later than the municipality had anticipated. A request for proposals to spray a speciality mix of concrete on the halfpipes and rounded obstacles designed for the new skateboard park was sent out to concrete contractors around the second week of June. Keith Bennett, manager of parks operations, was hoping to finalise a bid by June 11 with the hope the skatepark would be ready sometime in July. However, the curved surfaces required the use of shotcrete, a custom mix of cement used for jobs such as those underneath bridges where the mix must be sprayed on. Because the job was more complex than anticipated, work on the park next to the Whistler skatebowls is now scheduled to begin July 5. Fulton Engineering of Delta was awarded the $54,000 (plus taxes) contract and will use a special cement mix developed by a firm called Agra Earth Environmental. The mix is designed to withstand the constant pounding of skateboard wheels and is less prone to cracks occurring on curved surfaces. Traditional concrete pouring could not do the job, Bennett said, and the process of hiring a specialist began late in the construction because a contractor whom the municipality had hoped would do the job was unavailable. Fulton Engineering will be working with the RMOW’s skatepark co-ordinator and independent consultant Jim Barnum, in addition to the volunteers who have committed time to the project. The completion of the park, which was initially hoped to be ready the end of last summer, is not expected until at least the middle of September.
