Visitors at Lake Darling State Park may have noticed the new pedestrian bridge that was installed earlier this year.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources and park staff are hoping to make the bridge accessible this fall by building the approaches. DeLong Construction of Washington was awarded the contract on August 30th to construct the approaches for $9,380. Work has been delayed due to recent precipitation but Design Engineering Supervisor Heath Delzell with the Iowa DNR expects the bridge to be open to the public by the end of October.

Delzell describes how this bridge enhances Lake Darling State Park, “It’s going to kind of complete the trail loop that goes all the way around the lake and ever since we built the in-lake silt dam on the lake restoration project we’ve always kind of dreamed about having a bridge and it’s really nice that we were able to construct it and thanks to a very generous donor we’re able to bring this idea to fruition.”

This ADA-compliant bridge was funded by a $200,000 donation from Richland native Jerry B. Robinson.