PORT ANGELES — Volunteers and Clallam County lodging tax funds came together to replace the Olympic Discovery Trail’s failed bridge at Whiskey Creek.
The bridge, which is located near milepost 18 on the 25-mile Olympic Adventure Trail route, is 60 feet long, 6 feet wide and cost about $83,106.
In addition, 24 volunteers dedicated more than 800 hours to the project between April and its completion on Sept. 5.
“This truly is a community-funded project,” Steve Gray, Clallam County public works deputy director for utilities and waste, told the county commissioners during their Monday work session.
For the past 20 years, hikers and bikers had been traversing Whiskey Creek by walking across a fallen Douglas Fir that had been repurposed into a cost-effective bridge, Gray said.
The bridge was not suitable for equestrians, who had to take a stock detour and ford the creek slightly downstream of the tree bridge.
In 2022, individuals noted that the tree bridge had begun to sag, and county staff began planning to replace it before it failed completely.
One of the goals for the new bridge is to provide a single place that hikers, bikers and equestrians could all cross the river, Gray said. Staff also wanted to make the bridge long enough to span floodplain and active channel erosion areas.
Through consultation with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, county engineers decided to build the new bridge at the equestrian crossing rather than at the tree bridge’s location.
The county decided to use a fiber-reinforced polymer truss prefabricated bridge for a number of reasons.
One, it would be strong enough to support all users.
Two, the bridge’s individual parts all weighed less than 150 pounds. That was important because, based on the remote location, all the parts had to be carried at least one-quarter of a mile to the site.
Three, all the parts were prefabricated, ready to assemble on site and didn’t require any special skills or heavy equipment.
In March, county commissioners approved an $84,400 lodging tax grant to pay for the bridge.
A month later, on April 28, the tree bridge collapsed and the crossing was permanently closed.
Volunteers immediately got to work with the bridge replacement project. They reconstructed the switchbacks on the east side of the trail, prepared the area with the necessary infrastructure and constructed and installed the bridge.
“I just thank the crew,” said Jeff Ralston, trails maintenance/volunteer coordinator for the county. “I couldn’t have done it by myself, that’s for sure.”
Gray said this “new and improved” bridge “is going to last us for years.”
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Reporter Emma Maple can be reached by email at emma.maple@peninsuladailynews.com.
