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Funding needed to replace truss

Published 1:30 am Monday, March 30, 2026

By Matthew Nash

Engineers with Fickett Structural Solutions inspect the Dungeness Railroad Bridge in late February. They determined the bridge is safe to use but will limit heavy loads. Tribal staff said a capital campaign has started to replace the bridge’s deteriorating truss. (Michael Dashiell/Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe)
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Engineers with Fickett Structural Solutions inspect the Dungeness Railroad Bridge in late February. They determined the bridge is safe to use but will limit heavy loads. Tribal staff said a capital campaign has started to replace the bridge’s deteriorating truss. (Michael Dashiell/Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe)

Engineers with Fickett Structural Solutions inspect the Dungeness Railroad Bridge in late February. They determined the bridge is safe to use but will limit heavy loads. Tribal staff said a capital campaign has started to replace the bridge’s deteriorating truss. (Michael Dashiell/Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe)
The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe announced plans in January to replace the truss of the Dungeness Railroad Bridge due to deterioration. (Michael Dashiell/Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe)
Engineers with Fickett Structural Solutions inspect the Dungeness Railroad Bridge in late February. They determined the bridge is safe to use but will limit heavy loads. Tribal staff said a capital campaign has started to replace the bridge’s deteriorating truss. (Michael Dashiell/Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe)

SEQUIM — Construction to replace the Railroad Bridge’s truss is contingent on funding, according to the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe.

In mid-January, tribal officials announced the bridge’s wooden Howe Truss, next to the Dungeness River Nature Center at 1943 W. Hendrickson Road, is deteriorating and needs to be replaced. It has been in place for 100-plus years.

Engineers with Fickett Structural Solutions determined during an inspection on Feb. 24 that the bridge continues to deteriorate but remains safe for public use. However, they recommended limiting heavy loads on the bridge.

Tribal officials have prohibiting large gatherings and vehicle use on the bridge since July.

Jamestown’s Tribal Council and the Dungeness River Nature Center board of directors as well as the Peninsula Trails Coalition agreed that replacing the truss with a steel structure is the only viable path forward, staff said.

W. Ron Allen, the Jamestown Tribe’s chairman and CEO, said in January they “plan to honor the (bridge’s) historical symbolism with a new structure that reflects the current design and will keep park and trail users safe for our future generations.”

Using a steel structure will minimize closures to the bridge, which serves the Olympic Discovery Trail over the Dungeness River, staff said.

Tribal leaders have set a tentative goal to begin construction in the summer of 2027.

Michael Dashiell, Jamestown’s tribal communications and publications specialist, said construction of the new steel truss will be completed on site, and contractors will need water levels at their lowest for safety and environmental reasons, thus the summertime construction window.

Dashiell said part of the project will include disposal of the truss’ creosote-treated timbers.

In January, tribal staff said their engineer’s early estimate for the truss replacement will cost about $3.1 million.

A Railroad Bridge replacement capital campaign has begun, and the tribe and its partners have made a funding request to the state Legislature, stressing its ties to the Olympic Discovery Trail and its importance in the region.

More information can be found at: dungenessrivercenter.org/railroad-bridge-howe-truss-replacement-project.

Donations can be made at dungenessrivercenter.org/donate.

Railroad Bridge, part of the National Historic Register, saw train traffic from 1915-1985. In 1993, the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe purchased it and the adjacent 75 acres.

Starting in 2015, the tribe replaced about 800 feet of the bridge’s western trestle and reopened it in 2016 after flood damage. The tribe also made various improvements to the eastern portion of the bridge in 2022 to complement the renovated nature center.

For more information about the Dungeness River Railroad Bridge, visit dungenessrivercenter.org.

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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. He can be reached by email at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com.

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