Update on Riverfront Park Bridge

When driving along Front Street in downtown Salem, it becomes evident that there is a big project underway within the Waterfront Park. Some Salemites do not know what it is, and others are very excited about its completion. The Peter Courtney Minto Island Pedestrian Bridge will be for foot and bicycle travel between the Waterfront Park and Minto Brown Park here in Salem.
This project is being overseen by the Oregon Bridge Engineering Company. Overall, they have completed more than half a dozen long span pedestrian bridge projects.
“The design phase for the project as a little over two years long, while the design itself did not take that long,” Bob Goodrich, the division manager of the new bridge, said.
Designing a bridge is no easy task. Simply getting measurements of the land it is on is quite a challenge, not to mention the money to pay an architect to design it.
“The processes to obtain all the necessary permits controlled the duration of the design phase. There were probably around one dozen different permits from federal and state agencies as well as some city permits,” Goodrich said.
Keep the bridge in mind next time you are on Front street in front of the River Front Park, because soon it will be a new way to get across town via foot travel or bicycle.