The new bridge at Jenney Pond is open, marking a milestone in an ambitious project to revitalize the popular park area all the way through Brewster Gardens to the waterfront.
The 75-foot-long, 10-foot-wide span replaces a narrower, less accessible wooden footbridge that was more than 50 years old and deteriorating.
“I’m very happy with how it came out,” said David Gould, Plymouth’s director of energy and environment, during a tour Wednesday, clearing away the yellow tape as he walked.
The construction followed a much-needed dredging of the pond during the winter. Gould said it’s a big improvement over the former structure, which required stepping up onto it, and had gaps between its wooden slats.
“We replaced [the old bridge] with something that was more structurally sound and also [Americans with Disabilities Act] compliant,” he said. “We used a lot of granite.”
A lot of brick was also used, recycled from the Town Hall project. They included strategically placed bricks, imprinted with the mark of the former Hedge Brick Company of North Plymouth, once the largest brick maker in the country.
Benches adjacent to the bridge were refurbished from old benches by town workers. Core logs were placed to stabilize the edges of the pond, reducing erosion, a problem that has plagued the pond for decades.
Gould is waiting for Eversource to turn on the power for the old-fashioned streetlamps and illuminated handrail on the bridge.
There are rock features to provide shelter for juvenile fish and logs for turtles to climb on. Great blue herons and cormorants have already been perching there as well, Gould said. Plantings are other landscaping touches will take time to grow in.
Next up are repairs on the dam that goes under Spring Lane, building a fishway around the Grist Mill that will replace the existing fish ladder, and improvements to trails through Brewster Gardens. Gould hopes work can begin in September and finish by the end of 2026.
“That’s a big project,” he said.
He has also been working on a smaller project to create what will be called the Dark Orchard all-persons trail starting behind the cul-de-sac at the end of the Jenney Pond parking lot and into the woods away from the pond.
“That all-persons trail will allow anyone with mobility issues a beautiful path that leads you up into the woods through the red maple swamp,” Gould said. “It will have ropes and guides for people with visual issues so they can walk back there.”
He is trying to secure funds for that project, estimated to cost about $1 million.
But that’s a modest amount compared with the cost of the overall project to upgrade what is a natural jewel in the downtown/waterfront area.
The pond dredging and construction of the footbridge cost $3.8 million. The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration provided $1.1 million for dredging and Community Preservation funds made up the remaining $2.7 million for the bridge and walkways leading up to it. Where there was a stone dust path leading from the bridge towards the mill, there is now a resin-bound path that won’t wash away.
NOAA has granted $10 million toward the dredging, the fishway, and the relocation of a sewer line. Town Meeting allocated $6.7 million to repair the dam and, on recommendation of the Community Preservation Committee, $1.5 million to redo the trails from the dam to Brewster Gardens.
With the repair of the dam, Spring Lane will also be redone, and gas and water mains and electrical lines will be moved. New lighting and brick sidewalks will be installed, and all the paths leading down into the area around the water wheel of the grist mill, from which visitors exit the mill, will be made ADA compliant.
Fred Thys can be reached at fred@plymouthindependent.org.