The reopening of a pedestrian entrance into West Lafayette’s Happy Hollow Park is still at least a year away, officials said Tuesday.
The footpath at the intersection of Grant and Salisbury streets has been closed for more than two years.
Parks and Recreation Department Superintendent Janet Fawley says erosion in the park makes the project more challenging.
“It’s hard to get in there because you can’t have a vehicle of any kind in that area," says Fawley. "You have to carry everything and it just is really time consuming and it’s a lot of work to get there.”
And she says everyone who ignores the closed signs and uses the footpath anyway is making it worse.
“That means that the park is washing away," says Fawley. "And we may not have all the trees and the grasses and the beautiful pavilions and things like that if everything starts washing down into the park.”
Fawley says a boardwalk-style section and a small bridge have been built already.
She says the latest project is another boardwalk piece to connect the other pieces.
Fawley says that work will be complete this year.
But she says the final section of the footpath won’t be complete until next year.
