CANON CITY, Colo.—Royal Gorge Bridge & Park is moving forward with plans to rebuild after losing 48 of its 52 buildings to a wildfire in June.
The City Council of Cañon City heard a presentation Monday on preliminary plans from the design firm The Beck Group.
Royal Gorge Bridge Co. of Colorado President Harry Hargrave said construction is slated to begin Oct. 1, with the park likely reopening in late spring, the Cañon City Daily Record reported () .
The Royal Gorge Fire started June 11 and burned more than 3,000 acres and parts of the park, leading to a two-month, $1 million cleanup of the 360-acre tourist attraction.
The cable on which the park’s aerial tramway once traveled across the Arkansas River burned and fell to the river below, and the historic incline railway from the top to the bottom of the gorge was damaged. Some planks on the park’s well-known suspension bridge burned, but the bridge is largely intact.
Costs for phase one of the rebuilding are estimated at around $25 million, which includes the visitors center, gift shops, food offerings, an aerial tram station and zipline station. There are plans for the north terrace to offer an outdoor eating or congregation area, plus a deck where visitors can experience the edge of the gorge. The plans also include an indoor dining area with a “grand view” of the gorge. Visitors would exit into a courtyard with a fire pit.
A new aerial tram is in the plan and eventually a zipline that would travel parallel to it. The incline railway will be repaired.
A playground will be incorporated, and white buffalo eventually will return.
Incorporating an ampitheater and western park likely would take another year or two, Hargrave said.
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Information from: Canon City Daily Record,
