Demolition of the old overhead passenger walkway is underway as the new $33 million route opened Feb. 5 on Bainbridge Island.

The project on the busiest walk-on passenger route in the Washington State Ferries system replaces an old wooden walkway with a wider, safer concrete and steel structure built to seismic code, the WSF website says. More than 3.2 million people used the walkway prior to the COVID pandemic, and since then numbers have been increasing.

Windows provide views of the area, rather than being enclosed as before. Windows can open in summer to cool the area. Windows also have markings to prevent bird strikes.

Benches and heaters are yet to be installed.

On the old pathway, timber and steel pilings will be removed, along with a concrete column in the water.

The old walkway is more than 50 years old and was not safe in an earthquake.

Walk-on passengers line up for the next ferry inside the comforts of the new terminal.