The cost of replacing an old bridge at Windjammer Park went up again.

The price tag is now over $120,000.

The city of Oak Harbor and two Rotary Clubs worked together to renovate the Rotary Memorial Bridge in Windjammer Park. The short bridge reaches over the lagoon.

The Rotary Club of North Whidbey Sunrise and the Rotary Club of Oak Harbor raised $44,000 for a project that began as a total replacement. The city later changed course and said it planned to renovate the bridge and reuse some materials instead of a total replacement.

Park Operations Manager Don Crawford explained why the project went over budget at a council workshop meeting on Aug. 25.

In April 2020, city council members authorized $40,000 from the Sleeper Road pit funds, which are earmarked for park projects, to go towards the new bridge. Later, a former city engineer asked for an additional $30,000 to cover in-house construction costs. The total project budget was $70,000.

The Rotary clubs’ donation included the kit to renovate the bridge and most of the cost of new wooden planks.

To date, in-house construction costs total $32,301.79. The city had been expecting to reuse the old wooden beams and bridge planks but found that the 50-year-old wood was unusable when crews were working on the project this summer.

The bridge kit also did not include all of the hardware crews needed and, because of the salty environment, the city had to buy marine-grade materials, which are more expensive than standard building supplies. Crawford said crews also had to make a lot of “modifications” to the kit to make sure it was square to the existing concrete structures that hold up the bridge.

Crawford asked for an additional $15,000 to cover outstanding invoices for a total project budget of $85,000.

Combined, the total cost of the bridge is $129,000.