Bend Park & Recreation District and the city of Bend are teaming up to study the possibility of renovating or replacing the Gilchrist Bridge, a 30-year-old pedestrian bridge spanning the Deschutes River north of the Bend Whitewater Park.

The bridge is located between Columbia Park and Riverfront Street, a short distance north of Miller’s Landing Park. Walkers, joggers and cyclists frequently use the bridge to connect between downtown and neighborhoods on the west side.

“Given the amount of pedestrian traffic that bridge sees, I do believe that bringing it up to current standards is a worthwhile endeavor to pursue,” said Ian Isaacson, project manager with Bend Park & Recreation District.

The park district board is planning to discuss the bridge and future options for repair or replacement at its next meeting, scheduled for Tuesday.

In a park district board report, the bridge is described as having worn and uneven planks, and a width that is too narrow for two-way bike traffic. The eastern approach to the bridge also requires modifications to meet American Disabilities Act grading standards.

Widening for multimodal traffic is part of the plan to upgrade the bridge, as well as making it ADA compliant. The walking portion of the current bridge is 7 feet wide.

Installing jumping deterrents is also a priority, said Isaacson. Gilchrist Bridge is one of the more popular bridges in town for bridge jumping into the river below. During an observation conducted by the district in the summer months of 2019, a total of 47 bridge jumps were recorded by 38 individuals over a one-hour period. Jumping from bridges is against park district rules.

The city owns the 100-foot-long bridge but it has signed an agreement to allow the park district to manage its renovation or replacement. The city will grant site access and provide a technical review.

“Ultimate decisions and direction can only be made by the city since it is their asset,” said Isaacson.

A $90,000 grant from the Bend Metropolitan Planning Organization funded a conceptual design of a replacement bridge.

Around $10,000 of the grant will be used to produce photo-realistic renderings of the replacement bridge that the park district and city of Bend intend to use for grant applications for future stages of the project.

Isaacson says conceptual designs include bridge jumping deterrents like those on the bridges connecting Farewell Bend, Riverbend and First Street Rapids parks.

While the park district would like to see the bridge upgraded, the current bridge is structurally sound, according to Janet Hruby, an engineer with the City of Bend. Replacement of the bridge is not identified in the city’s Transportation System Plan.

Hruby says the larger priority for the city is replacing the footbridge connecting Drake Park and Harmon Park. Although funding is not available for a full replacement of the Gilchrist Bridge at this time, the city still plans to conduct timber replacement of the deck in 2026 or 2027.

Work to renovate or replace the bridge will tie into a larger project of improving river access and restoring the riverbank at Columbia Park. That project includes new concrete steps into the water and boulder terracing at the water’s edge.

Separately, a project to install steps and other riverbank improvements at nearby Miller’s Landing is also proceeding. The district intends to complete most of that project and open it up for public use in June.