Access to the north end of the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge will improve in the next three years with plans for new bridges in the works.
Construction will begin this winter on a new footbridge to the Cathlapotle Plankhouse and the Oaks to Wetland Trail, said Chris Lapp, manager of the refuge. A preconstruction meeting will take place in early February, and Lapp said he hopes to begin the project soon after.
Two years ago, the refuge received a $250,000 federal grant to begin the replacement of the bridge, which is about 30 years old and noncompliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The new bridge will cost about $2.1 million. Lapp said he hopes construction will be finished in about a year. The old bridge will stay in place until the new one is finished, Lapp said.
This month, the city of Ridgefield and Clark County also learned that they’ll receive as much as $3 million to make several other improvements to access at the refuge’s Carty Unit. The two went in together on an application for U.S. Department of Transportation money in the summer of 2014, anticipating the project would cost about $3.7 million.
City officials plan to work through the design and permitting process for a new bridge over Gee Creek in the next two years. Officials say construction should begin in 2017 and end the following year.
A portion of the money will be used to build a 2,200-foot path near or along Main Avenue. As it stands, much of the road has no sidewalks, bicycle lanes or shoulders.
The new path along Main Avenue will be 6 to 10 feet wide, improving safety for pedestrians and bicyclists along the narrow roadway.
“It bottlenecks there as it goes down and tramps over Gee Creek, and there’s no shoulder,” Lapp said.
Below Main Avenue, crews also will remove a culvert for Gee Creek that was built too small. Heavy winter rains lead to backups in the culvert, flooding the roadway and nearby properties. While replacing the pipe, crews will also remove a partial barrier to fish runs. The new design will help restore fish-rearing habitat between Gee Creek and Carty Lake, Lapp said.
Eventually, the Carty Unit will also have a new visitor center, which the city anticipates would attract dozens more vehicles to the north end of the refuge each hour during peak visitation times.
