Construction is beginning this week on a suspension bridge spanning a creek on a popular mid-coast hiking trail just south of Yachats.
Crews have begun building an auxiliary road that will be used to move equipment and machinery to the spot where a massive landslide in 2015 wiped out the bridge that previously crossed the creek on Amanda Trail.
“This is something we have all been planning since the spring of 2016,” said Joanne Kittel, whose property is adjacent to the construction area. “It’s a very exciting moment.”
The estimated 1,000 hikers who have used the trail during coronavirus shutdown will need to make arrangements to park elsewhere, Kittel said, since the limited parking area that now accommodates hikers will be squeezed even more due to construction vehicles.
“The best thing folks can do is drive up to the viewpoint overlooking Cape Perpetua and park up there,” Kittel said. “They’ll be able to hike down two miles to where the trail will be closed and then hike back up. It’ll still be a beautiful hike,”
The final contract, between the state and the contractor, Cascade Civil Corp. of Redmond, totals $434,277, said John Seevers, project manager for the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. Of that, $350,000 is for the bridge itself and the pilings needed to anchor it, he said.
Work on the project must wrap up by the end of February because spotted owl and marbled murrelet nest seasons begin March 1.
A ceremony to dedicate the 142-foot-long suspension bridge will be held in May.
