Moab bridge replacement gets $135,240 state grant, reopening link to downtown

The Pack Creek Trail crossing behind St. Francis Episcopal Church is still closed, and that has pushed walkers and cyclists onto Kane Creek Boulevard and Main Street for everyday trips across Moab. A $135,240 state grant now gives the city real momentum toward replacing the bridge and restoring one of the town’s most direct nonmotorized links between west-side neighborhoods, downtown, schools, parks and the Pack Creek Trail system.

The money came through Utah’s Recreation Restoration Infrastructure grant program, which is designed to restore, repair or replace aging or degraded outdoor recreation infrastructure on public lands. In the state’s 2026 program guide, the RRI category can fund projects up to $250,000, putting Moab’s bridge replacement squarely in range for the kind of rebuild the city has been discussing for years.

This is not a fresh idea. City council records from December 2021 show officials were already moving toward replacement after the August 2021 flood damage closed the bridge. At that point, the city had set aside $300,000 in the budget, and staff had already spent $15,000 in 2018 trying to strengthen the aging crossing. Ben Billingsley called it a critical need, and council members said a replacement made sense because getting around Moab on foot or by bike can be circuitous without it.

The bridge’s condition also pushed the city beyond a simple patch job. Assistant engineer Didar Charles said the flood damage gave staff a chance to evaluate the entire crossing, not just repair the worst spots. She said the handrails no longer met current safety standards and that neither the bridge nor its approaches complied with ADA requirements. City staff also said in 2021 that the bridge had been built too close to the water and that no records confirmed its exact age. Annie McVay guessed it may have gone in during the 1980s and be about 45 years old, while Chuck Williams estimated it was closer to 35 years old.

Moab’s replacement plan now centers on a bridge that once stood at the Scott and Norma Matheson Wetlands Preserve. The Nature Conservancy had offered that structure at no cost if the city removed the bridge and its piles, and later reporting said the bridge was donated to the City of Moab for use on Pack Creek. That gives the city a practical way to restore the crossing faster than starting from scratch.

The urgency is hard to miss. The Pack Creek Fire burned about 9,000 acres in 2021, and San Juan County reporting in 2023 said Pack Creek had 25 flood events over two years, including one estimated at 1,500 cubic feet per second compared with a normal flow of about 2 cfs. A 2025 city flood study said Moab is still looking at broader fixes along Mill Creek, including detention basins, levees, channel widening and deepening, and replacement of capacity-deficient structures. For now, though, the immediate payoff is simple: reopen the bridge, and Moab gets back a safer, shorter way to move between home, downtown and the trail network.