2025 Playground Resurfacing Projects

Milwaukee County Parks currently owns and operates 112 playgrounds that have a variety of equipment and surfacing. Many older playground sites have a combination of surfacing that includes sand, which is operationally challenging and a safety hazard for park users and staff. Safety standards and resilient playground surfacing products have improved beyond sand, and preferred options now also include poured-in-place (PIP) rubber surfacing with Engineered Wood Fiber.

These surfacing alternatives reduce ongoing maintenance, improve accessibility, and improve safety. While many playgrounds have been converted to PIP surfacing, some highly used sites are in need of replacement due to significant wear. Improving the surfacing at these playgrounds will improve safety, enhance the play environment and extend the life of the assets. PIP also has the advantage of providing ADA accessibility to all areas of the playground with an average useful life of 10 years. Replacing a minimum of 18,000 square feet of PIP on an annual basis helps to align playground surfacing with equipment lifespans.

Playground Sites include:

• Clarence and Cleopatra Johnson (Before/After pics below)
• Walker Square
• Atkinson Triangle
• King
• McGovern
• Smith
• Brown Deer
• Greenfield (South)
• Cannon