The century-old-plus Umtanum Suspension Bridge over Washington’s Yakima River Canyon, which was rehabilitated by the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Bridge Rehabilitation Project with design and engineering support from HDR, was recently named the winner in the New Life category of the 2025 Footbridge Awards in Chur, Switzerland.

Umtanum Suspension Bridge Wins International Award

The landmark 220-foot (67-meter) clear-span Umtanum bridge, which links visitors to Washington’s Yakima River Canyon, spans Washington’s only Blue-Ribbon trout stream. Built around 1925, it once carried vehicles across the Yakima River and the Northern Pacific railroad tracks to reach homesteads in Umtanum Creek Canyon and, once, even carried Model Ts.

Umtanum is the only remaining bridge of several that once

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