Creekside Park to see improvements

Accessibility improvements to the Creekside Park Bridge will be completed by the end of 2020.

The bridge improvements include ADA-accessible ramps (Americans with Disabilities Act) on either side leading up to the bridge, with decorative railings and the addition of viewing bump-outs along each side of the bridge.

Following a design review by the Parks Advisory Board, the board recommended to Council that the Option B design be approved, allowing the City to save some funds that would have been used on the higher-priced Option A, which included a more involved design requiring higher construction costs.

Option B will cost approximately $77,000, with a grant of $48,000 from Oregon Parks and Recreation Department.

In-creek riparian restoration work, including the removal of a concrete structure in the middle of the creek and bank restoration, will be completed in 2021 by the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council, utilizing $250,000 in grants. The concrete removal is necessary because it is impeding the fish coming upstream to spawn. This year a Chinook salmon was found in the creek within one mile of Creekside Park. Two other species are already traveling through Creekside Park.

The new sewer line on the upside of the Locust Street bridge will be moved and replaced in 2021 utilizing a FEMA grant. All three of these improvements started out as part of one improvement project but each has been broken out as an individual project, utilizing a variety of funds.