For 26 years, the Adkison Bridge has transported Mount Pisgah Arboretum visitors from lush forest trails into a wetland sanctuary brimming with Western pond turtles, rough-skinned newts, red-legged frogs and greenery above and below the water.

But the 100-foot bridge itself, first constructed from large ceiling beams in 1983, was never meant for the outdoors.

The structure rotted over time and in 2009 was condemned and deconstructed shortly thereafter.

For years, the hikers and field trip groups who frequent the park by the thousands could only strain from the shore to try to catch a glimpse of wetland wildlife, said Brad van Appel, the arboretum’s executive director.

On Thursday, however, the bridge welcomed outdoor enthusiasts once more, at a rededication ceremony to mark the completion of the four-year reconstruction project and celebrate the community that made it happen.

“A lot of people put a lot of their heart and soul into this bridge,” van Appel said. “It serves a purpose not just for connecting our trail system, but for education.”

One visitor’s face lit up earlier this week as she stepped onto the reconstructed bridge for the first time.

“It’s a gem; it’s a jewel,” said Joan Fulton, who visits the park for walks with her husband, Bob Fulton, a few times each year.

“I loved what was here before, but I’m so glad they did this,” she said, leaning on the handrail to gaze at the water garden. “It’s a nice contemplation bridge.”

The new bridge, a 104-foot-long, 12-foot-high wooden Bowstring Truss-style structure south of the arboretum, was completed in October as a result of $150,000 in cash and in-kind donations, and more than 2,000 volunteer hours.

Its pressure-treated wood — native Alaskan yellow cedar and Douglas fir — should hold up through “generations” of visitors, van Appel said.

Rather than contracting the project, the Mount Pisgah team worked with architect and former board member Jonathan Stafford, and gathered volunteers to do the rest, occasionally hiring professionals for specific jobs such as welding. Volunteers from Essex General Construction and the Wildish Companies came out to help in July, along with Oldham Crane, which threaded the bridge’s 8,000-pound trusses through treetops before they could be secured to the bridge’s walkway.

“Here is a place where people have actually come together and said, ‘We’ll take care of this,’?” said Tom LoCascio, the arboretum’s caretaker and site manager. “That makes for a really unique place.”

Van Appel added that the bridge was initially set to open in 2012 — but in that same year the team learned from a group of engineers that they would need to add more support, in the form of wooden outriggers that extend over the pond, before the bridge could safely welcome visitors.

Among the attendees at Thursday’s rededication was Dan Adkison, son of the late Vern Adkison, whose work as director of Lane Regional Air Pollution Authority was memorialized as the bridge’s namesake.

Earlier this week, volunteer Rob O’Connor prepared the bridge for the dedication ceremony by washing off its first graffiti markings, and LoCascio and his assistant, August Jackson, repaired a handrail that had been damaged by a falling tree in February’s snow and ice storm.

While some of the challenges have been frustrating, the paid and volunteer crew — many of whom had no prior experience in major construction work — said that’s what made the project even more intriguing.

“For most of us, this is a brand new experience,” O’Connor said.

“Putting it together, thinking about it … it’s the highlight of my life.”