Bellingham sets date for demolition of historic Whatcom Falls Park railroad trestle
Demolition will start next month on a historic railroad trestle in Whatcom Falls Park, one of the few remaining remnants of the region’s importance to the timber industry.
In a social media post Saturday, the Bellingham Department of Parks and Recreation said the aging trestle will be dismantled in June, nearly two years after it was declared unsafe and officials detoured a nearby trial around it.
“Crews will begin work in June when creek flows are low. Expect impacts to surrounding trails while cranes and trucks move in and out of the project site,” Parks and Recreation officials said on the group’s Facebook page.
Estimated cost of the project is $227,000, Parks and Recreation Department Director Nicole Oliver told The Bellingham Herald.
It will take about three weeks to tear down the structure, Oliver said in an email.
Demolition of the 40-foot trestle had been planned last summer but was delayed.
Maps call it the Milwaukee Road wooden railroad trestle, and it crosses Whatcom Creek on the south end of the Railroad Trail, north of Derby Pond, according to previous Bellingham Herald reporting.
In 1916, the trestle linked the former Larson Mill, near the current Bloedel Donovan Park, to shipping piers at Bellingham Bay, according to the Bellingham Whatcom County Tourism website.
Bridgehunter.com reports that the trestle was abandoned in 1963 after the mill burned.
