Members of the community use the new Sutter Creek footbridge. Photo by: Roger Phelps

Footsteps by the hundreds echoed across a new bridge Friday in Sutter Creek.

It was the grand opening of a span built primarily to support a creek-crossing section of a new pipeline for water delivery to the nearby city of Plymouth by Amador Water Agency.

Sutter Creek gets from the deal an attractive off-street walkway from the rear of City Hall to Eureka Street across the scenic waterway.

"As long as we needed a pipeline to cross the creek, I'm sure glad we could do this," said Terry Moore, water board president.

Around 65 people attended a mid-morning dedication ceremony.

Resident Sharyn Brown said, "They did an excellent job of mirroring it to the old bridge (around 200 yards upstream)."

Bridge railings are of metal that is new but is finished to appear aged.

"We're ahead of schedule and under budget," said supervising engineer Eric Christeson.

The cost is $230,000.

Several speakers remarked on the fact of cooperation between the city and the water agency. Relations in the past have been tense at times between the two entities because of wastewater-treatment issues.

"My hope and my thought is that bridging gaps between governments is a good thing," said District 4 water board Director Debbie Dunn. "I hope this is not just a physical bridge, and that the county, the board and the cities do their best not to duplicate services and efforts."

Sutter Creek Mayor Gary Wooten got the crowd's attention, and a laugh, with an anecdote.

"Three years ago, on the old bridge, a lady was attacked by a beaver," Wooten said. "I don't see screens on this bridge to prevent that - that's my only complaint."

Wooten added that Sutter Creek plans to name the bridge as a memorial to a past resident not chosen at present.

The mood was upbeat and no one had anything but good to say about the newly functional structure. City leaders are betting the span will act to circulate tourist foot traffic smoothly and quickly between the business districts of Eureka Street and Main Street. That is because now a loop route exists, rather than an out-and-back, for foot traffic through the two districts. Conversely, the new foot route is expected to ease auto traffic congestion and inconvenience for touring motorists in navigating and finding parking along Sutter Creek's narrow streets.

"Aesthetically, it fits the town, and it's nice having these two parking lots attached," said Pamela Weatherly, director of the Sutter Creek Visitors Center.

Weatherly and her friend Brown said their two canines, Jack and Root, respectively, would "be the first dogs to cross the bridge."

AWA's 9.9-mile Plymouth Pipeline is the latest capital-improvement project to be completed by the agency.