After a year of delays, people can access Buena Vista Park and Boat Launch again.

Users of the park on the west side of the Willamette River, about 7 miles south of Independence, will see huge improvements.

It has a new lower parking lot — that hopefully won’t flood like the old one — a new boat launch, a new floating dock and a new bathroom.

The work just took longer than it was supposed to.

Buena Vista Park a popular place for non-motorized boats

Buena Vista is an unincorporated community on the Polk County side of the Willamette River.

The Buena Vista Ferry, owned and operated by Marion County, has been in use since the mid-1850s.

The park was built around 1970 to keep people from using the nearby ferry ramp to launch boats in the river.

The park is a popular launching point for kayakers and other non-motorized boaters.

Matt Hawkins, Polk County administrative services director, said an upper parking lot and restroom were added to the park over the past 12 years.

But something needed to be done with the area down by the river.

The previous boat ramp had wide gaps between the planks, and it had been damaged over decades of use. There also was a steep drop-off at the bottom of the ramp, making it tricky to put a boat in the water.

The old boat ramp was removed in 2015.

In the lower parking lot, there were 10 boat trailer and eight car parking spots. None were ADA accessible. There were also no accessible routes through the park for people in wheelchairs.

And when the river level was high, the lower parking lot would flood.

Polk County finds money for upgrades to park

Polk County, which operates the park, received about $1.2 million in grant funds from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife for the project. It got another $400,000 from the Oregon State Marine Board and used about $200,000 in county funds.

The park was closed in May 2022, and the project was supposed to be completed by that October.

The first construction company hired tore out the lower parking lot, but didn’t finish the job. It delayed construction for over a year, and the park was closed for the entire summer.

“So we ran in there with public works to get it back open,” Hawkins said. “You could still use it during fall because a lot of hunters use it. This year (2023), we got a new contractor.”

Most of the in-water work had to be completed between June 1 and Oct. 15, per the county’s permit.

But that couldn’t start in the summer of 2023 until July, due to high water conditions.

That delayed construction even more.

The project was completed in late October 2023. It was officially open to the public again as of Nov. 15.

Statesman Journal reporter Zach Urness contributed to this report.

Bill Poehler covers Marion and Polk County for the Statesman Journal. Contact him at bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Buena Vista Park in Polk County open again after construction delays