HORSE CAVE – A swinging bridge that provides greater public access to Hidden River Cave is now operational, but the structure is just one part of a plan intended to open the entire cave to tours by June.

David Foster, executive director of the American Cave Conservation Association that maintains the cave, said the bridge formally passed inspection Wednesday. He said because the pedestrian bridge is on private property, an inspection was not legally required. The cave has been open to tour groups since mid-September.

“It’s solid enough that we’re not seeing a lot of people who are scared to cross it, but it has just enough sway to be kind of a gut check, which is what you want,” he said. “You want it to be exciting.”

Foster said he wanted to install a swinging bridge to help Hidden River Cave stand apart from its famous competitor in the region, Mammoth Cave National Park.

The swinging bridge, along with the zip line and rappelling Hidden River Cave already offers, is intended to appeal to visitors’ sense of adventure.

“We may not be the longest cave in the world or the prettiest cave, but, by God, we’re going to be the most adventurous,” he said.

The installation of the swinging bridge, as well as a small platform on the other side of the chasm it spans, represents the first step of a plan to open up the entire cave to tours, Foster said.

The cave follows a path to Sunset Dome, a chamber roughly 100 feet high and 200 feet in diameter, and Foster said ACCA wants to take tourists all the way there by June.

“We want to be at the Sunset Dome by the first of June,” he said. “Lots of people have been waiting a long time to see it.”

Currently, ACCA expects the construction of two observation decks and a walkway on the far side of the bridge to begin in mid-November and be finished by Christmas. The expansion requires the construction of a second swinging bridge, which Foster said he expects to be finished by spring break.

From there, he said, building a walkway that takes tourists all the way to Sunset Dome should be simple.

“At that point, all the serious engineering problems have been surmounted,” he said.

The Daily News previously reported that the project, expected to cost about $500,000, is being made possible because of the ACCA’s annual fundraising, a $100,000 James Graham Brown Foundation grant and additional funding from the Appalachian Regional Commission and the Dart Foundation.

By expanding the tour offered at the cave, ACCA hopes to draw more people and make the group, which currently depends on grants and donations, sustainable.

The tour costs $15 for adults and $10 for children, though the price may increase in the future because of the expansion adding “more value” to the tour, Foster said.