Tag: Willamette River
Willamette River Update
Willamette River Watch
Tilikum Crossing
With great fanfare, Portland opened its new bridge across the Willamette River. The Tilikum Crossing, or “Bridge of the People,” is open to pedestrians, bicyclists, buses, streetcars, light rail, and emergency vehicles. Private automobiles and trucks are not allowed on the bridge.
The name comes from the Native-American Chinook Jargon, meaning people, tribe or family.
River Musings
Last July, two thousand people gathered under a warm sun at the Tom McCall Bowl near Portland’s Riverplace Marina. Led by the Last Regiment of Syncopated Drummers, a parade of people, outfitted in colorful swimwear, marched past the Riverplace shops and restaurants. The participants, carrying inner tubes or more elaborate flotation equipment followed the drummers and then turned toward the river at “Poet’s Beach,” a Willamette River entry point under the downtown end of the I-5 Marquam Bridge. The procession followed a path down the embankment and waded into the river. Hundreds of people paddled, or simply floated, letting the current carry them downstream, returning to the Bowl. Back on shore they enjoyed an afternoon of music, refreshments and general merriment. The big party, called The Big Float, celebrated the Willamette River’s return to relative cleanliness – clean enough to swim in, anyway.