The Port of Kalama will start to tear down the pedestrian walkway that connects the city’s downtown to the port’s riverfront marina, parks and restaurants this winter.

Construction of a new $12 million walkway over the BNSF Railway tracks will begin shortly after, said Dan Polacek, who runs legislative and media relations for the port.

The port’s spring newsletter said it would start this fall. With the majority of the riverfront’s roughly 600,000 yearly visitors coming in the summer, Polacek said, the port hopes to get all the work done over the winter.

“When the feds brought I-5 in, it basically put a great wall between the port’s waterfront and downtown,” he said.

While Polacek said the roughly half-century-old pedestrian overpass has done its job well, the port is looking to make t

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