New Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge bridge complete

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A full seven days a week of public access to the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge’s River S Unit will soon return after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hosted a ceremonial ribbon-cutting event for a new two-lane bridge to replace the aging one-lane wooden structure that’s been in place for decades.

On Dec. 9, bridge project and local officials gathered on the new, 525-foot structure to recognize that the bridge was operational. The first public vehicle to cross the new bridge was a bus of South Ridge Elementary School students heading to the refuge to plant trees.

Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge Acting Project Leader Eric Anderson said that replacing the old structure had been planned for 11 years. Since March, access to the River S Unit has been restricted to only weekends for the project, and though the project was scheduled to be complete in March 2020, Anderson said it was on track to be finished ahead of schedule, estimating full access would return by February.

The old bridge was a wooden, one-lane structure that featured an at-grade railroad crossing that provided a number of challenges for access.

“Never again do we have to wait for a train to pass,” Anderson said, adding that access would not be cut off if a train was stuck on the tracks in the case of an emergency.

The old bridge required frequent repairs to keep up with weight ratings for moving things in and out of the refuge, Anderson said. It also provided a challenge given that it had only one lane for actually getting into and out of the area.

“No longer do you get halfway over (the bridge) and realize someone is coming in the opposite direction,” Anderson said.

Among the finishing work left to be done is removal of the old structure, Anderson said. Until everything’s complete, public access will still be restricted to weekends.



Anderson said the $8 million project was funded out of U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s transportation budget. Brent Lawrence, a spokesperson for the service, wrote in an email that about 130,000 vehicles passed the old structure to take tours of the refuge.

“It’s been a need for a long time,” Anderson said. 

Land acquisitions, permitting with the U.S. Coast Guard and working with railroad interests took time to get all the pieces to come together to finally be at the home stretch more than a decade after first taking on the project.

Anderson also noted some other projects at the refuge in the works, including the addition of sidewalks leading up to refuge headquarters as well as plans for a new administrative facility, the first part of an overall project that would include a nature center for visitors.

Anderson believed the administrative side of that project was set to start in the summer.

Anderson said wooden bridges like the old one generally had a 50-year lifespan, which the 60-year-old bridge has surpassed.

“We’ve been living on borrowed time,” Anderson said. “To have safe and reliable access to the refuge that separates us from the railroad is going to be a long-term solution.”