By DANA TIMS/YachatsNews.com
Nearly six years after a huge mudslide wiped out a key bridge along a popular Yachats-area hiking trail, a replacement structure is finally ready to begin construction.
Bids went out this month to build a 142-foot-long suspension bridge for Amanda Trail. Actual construction is scheduled to begin in October, with the new bridge be completed within 45 days after that.
“Despite all of the obstacles this project has faced, I never stopped believing that this would actually get done,” said Yachats resident Joanne Kittel, a driving force behind both the trail and, now, the replacement bridge. “Along the way, literally hundreds of people have helped make this a reality and I’m just incredibly happy to see an end finally in sight.”
The smaller bridge that used to cross Amanda Creek was destroyed in 2015, when a landslide swept down from clearcut areas on hillsides high above Kittel’s property.
Plans to replace the bridge appeared set in early 2020, only to be scuttled by the economic shutdown imposed by the coronavirus.
Oregon State Parks & Recreation, which was overseeing the replacement project, relies on Oregon Lottery money for much of its funding. With restaurants and campgrounds shut down by the virus, the agency was forced to lay off half of its staff, including the engineer who was guiding the bridge replacement project.
However, parks officials decided that the new bridge was important enough to make it a funding priority. Only weeks after saying that the project was being indefinitely postponed, managers reversed course and said the green light was once again on.
“We are all very excited to see the pieces all falling into place,” said Paul Reilly, Oregon state parks’ regional program coordinator. “It’s an amazing project that is finally coming to fruition.”
Total cost of the project is about $400,000, according to recent state estimates. Of that, about $300,000 is for the suspension bridge, with the rest accounting for engineering studies, plan designs and related work needed to accommodate the span.
In addition to money from the state and federal government, other major contributions have come from View the Future, a Yachats non-profit co-founded by Kittel; the Three Rivers Foundation, the charitable arm of the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians; the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians of Oregon; the city of Yachats; the Perpetua Foundation/Discover Your Northwest; and Lincoln County’s land legacy program.
The trail over which the bridge crosses is named after Amanda Du-Cuys, one of hundreds of coastal Indians forced at gunpoint by U.S. soldiers in the 1850s and 1860s to march up the coast – often barefoot and over flesh-cutting rocks – to a military facility near present-day Yachats.
Amanda, who was forced to leave her husband and daughter, is thought to be one of at least 300 Indians who died at the military camp between 1855 and 1870.
“I can’t begin to describe how important Amanda Trail is to the tribes,” Kittel said. “It speaks to the truth of their history and to the genocide that happened here. I really believe that once this is all completed that this will be a healing trail.”
The new bridge will be built about 15 feet above the creek where the landslides occurred. Engineers say that should be high enough to keep it above any future slides.
Even during the year-long covid-related shutdown, more than 1,000 hikers a month have regularly used the trail, Kittel said.
A dedication ceremony, scheduled for May 21, 2022, is being planned by an advisory committee that includes tribal members, state parks and the non-profit groups that are contributing to the project’s completion. The city of Yachats has promised $10,000 to help fund the event.
“This is a long-held dream for many, many people,” Kittel said. “To see it finally coming true is beyond belief.”
- Dana Tims is an Oregon freelance writer who contributes regularly to YachatsNews.com. He can be reached at DanaTims24@gmail.com