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Skevington Crossing finished The popular Rogue River bridge between parks was washed away in the New Year's Day flood of 1997 By BUFFY POLLOCK for the Mail Tribune ROGUE RIVER - One month shy of the five-year anniversary of the New Year's Day 1997 flood, lifelong resident Dick Skevington laid the final piece of decking for a brand new Skevington Crossing. The original bridge, named for generations of the council member's family who lived along Evans Creek, stood for eight years joining Palmerton and Anna Classick Bicentennial Parks before it was washed away. "It was used a great deal and it has been sorely missed by the community," said finance director Hope Warren. "Everyone is really looking forward to it being completed." The original bridge was built in the early 1980s with a $16,000 grant and was constructed by volunteer labor. It was designed by Skevington, who built bridges for the National Park Service for 28 years. The new bridge, what Timber Mountain contractor Robby Pearce called "a mini Golden Gate Bridge," spans 234 feet - 60 feet longer than the first bridge - and sports a much wider and more rigid wooden deck. OBEC of Eugene designed the new crossing, situated above the 100-year flood plain, and Timber Mountain rebuilt it for $257,300. "It's considerably bigger than the old one. It's going to look very nice," said Pearce. The total project, which drew $300,000 in disaster relief funds, was administered by the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department. Bev Thacker, southwestern team regional coordinator for the department, said an additional $65,000 in such funds was transferred to Rogue River for other projects after the cities of Drain and Myrtle Creek were unable to use more than $500,000 in similar funding. "Because we captured additional funds, we were able to transfer that money to them so now they will be able to use their money to take care of other things. We were very excited to be able to do that." In addition to the Rogue River project, Thacker said, the unused funds provided a last-minute grant for Central Point to replace a box culvert bridge at Scenic Avenue. The culvert, she said, was not only a "serious fish passage barrier," but also had severe flooding in 1997. The $504,000 project was granted $429,000. While both bridge projects had to meet a Dec. 17 deadline, Central Point Public Works director Bob Pierce said the culvert project was finished in "just less than two months." He said the entire three-and- one-half-month process normally takes about two years. Timber Mountain will spend an additional week on two water projects in Rogue River funded by the city budget - a $34,000 project to add a water line to the foot bridge and $61,000 to extend two waterlines to Pine Street and West Evans Creek Road from the bridge. Buffy Pollock is a free-lance writer living in Medford. E-mail her at [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.