New viewing platforms — along with a new boardwalk — are currently being installed at Hawley Cove Park.

Crews with the Bainbridge Island Metro Park & Recreation District have already repaired approximately 420 feet of boardwalk in the upland part of the park, near the north end of the forested public land off Wing Point Way.

Officials with the Bainbridge Island Parks Foundation also note that an additional 60 feet of new boardwalk is part of the project, and will connect that stretch of trail with the Eagle Harbor shoreline. A viewpoint looking out toward Eagle Harbor and the ferry terminal is also part of the plans.

Work got underway earlier this summer after permits were obtained.

The next step of the project includes the installation of more than 330 feet of new boardwalk with viewing platforms, which will be placed running south across the Hawley Cove marsh.

Work on that section is expected to take up to two months, foundation officials said.

Workers will use the park district’s new anchor-auger machine for the project to limit the impact of the new constructioin. The hydraulic head unit — essentially a big drill — attaches to the arm of an excavator and threads steel piers, or “screwpiles,” into the earth to a secure depth. Each pier is then capped with a brace, to which the new boardwalk’s crossbeams are attached.

As new planks are added, the machinery crawls forward along the boardwalk and sinks each new set of pilings.

Officials note that the anchor-auger system offers two advantages: Very little soil is disturbed in placing each pier, and work can be confined to the width of the path itself.

The machine was paid for by a grant from the Bainbridge Island Parks Foundation, with support from private donors and the Rotary Club of Bainbridge Island.

The boardwalk project was made possible by state Aquatic Lands Enhancement Account grant funding, along with private contributions through the Parks Foundation.

For updates on the project, visit www.biparksfoundation.org.