Looking back at 2012 and ahead to 2013

From ODOT-

As we welcome 2013, I’m thinking back on all of the progress our contractor Hamilton Construction and its subcontractors have made during the past year.



We started last January with just the new southbound bridge standing and a year later the arches for northbound bridge are almost done.


Here’s a look at how far we have come.

Crews opened 2012 by drilling holes into the earth for the shafts that would support the columns for the new set of arches on the northbound bridge over the Willamette River.

Early in the year, the team started building the touch-down point for the new northbound bridge, as shown above.

While workers removed most of the temporary detour bridge before 2012, they completed the task in June with the removal of the portion over Canoe Canal.

 

Construction of the new Canoe Canal span also began and completed in June.



This picture, taken in November from upstream, shows the arches for the new northbound bridge under construction. The final concrete pours joining the arch sections will occur this month.

Bridge construction was not the only accomplishment in 2012. Our project team also realigned nearby paths in Alton Baker Park, built a sound wall along northbound I-5, restored a stream on the south bank of the Willamette River and honored the Kalapuya Tribe with a ceremony commemorating the official bridge name, Whilamut Passage.

A new soft path now connects to a paved path in the Whilamut Natural Area.

Irrigation lines will help vegetation grow along the new sound wall.

Boulders help habitat in this newly restored stream.

Citizen volunteers join ODOT and local staff alongside the new Whilamut Passage Bridge name sign.

I’m excited to continue sharing project milestones and glimpses from behind the orange cones with you in 2013 as we complete the arches and bridge deck, open the new bridge to traffic and continue working on park restoration and design enhancements.

From the entire Willamette River Bridge Project team, here’s wishing you a safe and very Happy New Year!

Watch naming ceremony highlights in the latest online video

From ODOT-

Our latest Behind the Orange Cones video is especially moving. It contains highlights of the Sept. 29 Whilamut Passage naming ceremony. We’ve captured photos of the special day along with speeches by the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and other community members who played a significant role in naming the bridge.



If you were there, this video will be a wonderful reminder of the day – as it was for me. If not, you will get to see and hear the touching moments.

Get the scoop on park improvements in the latest Behind the Orange Cones video

From ODOT-

The parkland surrounding the Interstate 5: Willamette River Bridge project is much beloved by athletes, commuters and reflective outdoor enthusiasts. These same park paths and natural areas also play a very important role in our construction story.



To film our latest online video, I relished the opportunity to spend part of my day capturing how we’ve worked to protect, enhance and improve this beautiful area, including its many paths and waterways.



In this video, you will learn that while construction has led to temporary impacts to Alton Baker Park and the Whilamut Natural Area; it will lead to valuable improvements when the bridge work is done.



We highlight the importance of the parkland around the bridge and show what construction crews are doing now and will accomplish in the future. These improvements include stream restoration and a temporary fish ladder, informative kiosks and visual enhancements along the Canoe Canal path and waterway.



Please enjoy watching and feel free to post your comments and questions.

Pulling weeds helps establish native vegetation in the Whilamut Natural Area

From ODOT- 

The Whilamut Natural Area surrounds the Willamette River Bridge project on the river’s north bank.  ODOT is helping the city of Eugene and its Citizens Planning Committee to restore the area to its natural state as an upland prairie.

Since we began the bridge project, our contractors have removed more than two acres of weeds, which keeps construction traffic from spreading them to other parts of the natural area.

Some cleared areas are being landscaped with native plants while others are being seeded. In all cases, weeding will continue until the new native plants are established and can “shade out” undesired vegetation.

Here’s an area where weed removal is complete and maintenance continues while  native plantings become established in their new homes.  

When the landscaping is complete in 2014, the Whilamut Natural Area around the bridges will be greatly improved through the efforts of ODOT and its local partners.

Voices From a Distant Past

From ODOT-  Fourteen large stones engraved with words from the Kalapuya language lie along paths in the Whilamut Natural Area of Alton Baker Park, a greenway on the north bank of the Willamette River in Eugene and Springfield.  Quarried from a basalt deposit in historic Kalapuya territory, the "talking stones", 11 of which were installed in 2002, serve as educational and cultural reference points as well as beautiful art objects.



As part of the restoration work for the Interstate 5 Willamette River Bridge replacement project, ODOT contributed four more talking stones to the park in 2009.  Three have already been placed, with the fourth to be added at the end of the project.



The original talking stones were the result of discussions between Kalapuya Elder Esther Stutzman of the Kommema Cultural Protection Association and members of the Citizen Planning Committee for the Whilamut Natural Area of Alton Baker Park.



Before the arrival of Euro-Americans, Kalapuyans were the largest Native American group in what is now western Oregon.  As many as 15,000 Kalapuya lived in their traditional territory, which extended from near Roseburg to Oregon City.  In 2003, an estimated 300 to 400 Kalapuyans remained.  For thousands of years, every object in the local landscape had a Kalapuya name.  Today, only 140 words remain.



The talking stones continue an important tradition of commemorating those who have gone before us and perserving their language.

Employees from subcontractor Dirt and Aggregate Interchange moved the new talking stones to their permanent locations in the Whilamut Natural Area of Alton Baker Park.

We are ready for the Eugene Marathon

From ODOT-

Sunday morning, thousands of runners will take to the streets and Alton Baker Park for the fifth annual Eugene Marathon.



Runners will not need to worry about path closures due to construction work in Alton Baker Park and the Whilamut Natural Area affecting this year’s race.



Before construction began on the Willamette River Bridge project in 2009, we worked with the organizers of the Eugene Marathon to make sure a continuous route for the annual race is always maintained during construction of the new Interstate 5 Willamette River bridges.



While we use portions of Alton Baker Park for construction access and rebuild the paths, we make sure to keep path connections complete throughout the park.



Best of luck to all of participating in this yearly tradition!

Bare-root plantings restore natural landscape near new bridges

From ODOT-

Enhancing and restoring the natural environment around the Willamette River Bridge project requires attention to detail.



During winter and early spring of this year, our contractors have been installing fencing, irrigation and native bare root plants. The dormant plants can be dug up, stored without any soil around the roots and then planted before the warm weather comes. Advantages to using bare-root plants are that they have up to 200 percent more roots, are easier to move and take less time to plant. Once bare-root plants arrive on site, the contractor works quickly to get them in the ground before their roots dry out, which can happen within a few weeks of shipping.

Crews recently built fencing and planted native bare-root trees in the Eastgate Woodlands of the Whilamut Natural Area.

Native bare-root trees used on this project include vine maple, Bigleaf maple, Oregon ash and Oregon white oak. Shrubs include Oregon grape, mock orange, flowering currant and blue elderberry. Tufted hairgrass, Oregon iris and common rush are used in the wetlands.



Trees, wetland plants and the irrigation system are shown in one of the swales along the Interstate 5 northbound off-ramp to Franklin Boulevard.

Irrigation systems keep plants watered during the dry summer months. For this project, we are required to water the new plants for at least five years to ensure they are established and will survive over the long term.

 

Trees offer shelter and protect the new plantings, helping them get well established. Crews planted bare-root shrubs and other native plants in the mounds of soil.

Restoring the Whilamut Natural Area

From ODOT- Long before it was named the Whilamut Natural Area, the Kalapuya tribe inhabited this 70-acre site on the north bank of the Willamette River west of Interstate 5. The Kalapuya gathered food, traveled on the river and hunted local game. Later the site served as farmland, supplied sand and gravel for the original I-5 bridge and was used as a Lane County landfill from 1964 to 1974.

Transformation of the site continues today. The City of Eugene and volunteers serving on the Citizen Planning Committee oversee efforts to restore the area to its natural state. Removal of non-native plant species such as blackberries, Scotch broom and tall fescue allows native species to survive and thrive. Planting of native grasses and wildflowers creates new upland prairies for wildlife habitat. Western meadowlark, vesper sparrow, woodpeckers, lizards, gopher snakes, frogs and turtles are expected to return and thrive.

A new forest canopy of black cottonwood and Oregon ash will protect plants needing shade while providing wildlife habitat and a cool zone along the river for juvenile Chinook salmon.

As the restoration proceeds, bicyclists, walkers and runners use the variety of hard and soft paths to travel east, west, north and south. Some stop to enjoy the river or just sit and experience the natural surroundings.

Future generations will appreciate the opportunity to see cycles of nature and flourishing native plants and wildlife.

Bike barriers installed to enhance walk along the river

From ODOT

Before construction started on the Willamette River Bridge, the local Citizen Planning Committee for the Whilamut Natural Area of Alton Baker Park was working with the Willamalane Park and Recreation District to address pedestrian safety issues on the Riverside Trail. On the north side of the Willamette River, the trail starts near the Aspen Street boat ramp and connects to the Walnut Road Path just before it passes under Interstate 5.

The Riverside Trail is ideal for a leisurely walk, but it is not suitable for biking due to its narrow, winding, bumpy terrain. Park planners hoped that by diverting bike traffic to more direct routes, the riverside path would become a pedestrian-only trail. Unfortunately, bike traffic continued to use the path, even after it was realigned and signage was posted.

To resolve the safety issues, the Oregon Department of Transportation agreed to design and install a pair of off-set bike gates that prohibit bike traffic but allow access to people with physical disabilities. These gates, called chicanes, were installed in January 2012.

This is just one way ODOT works with the Willamalane Park and Recreation District to enhance the park and mitigate the impacts of replacing the Willamette River Bridge.

New bike diversion gates have been installed at the western end of Riverside Trail in Eastgate Woodlands part of the Whilamut Natural Area.

Signs installed beside the bike diversion gates reinforce the prohibition of bicyclists from using this trail.

ODOT approves design enhancements for north bank natural area

From ODOT-

ODOT has approved two design enhancements proposed by Litus LLC for the Whilamut Naural Area near the new Interstate 5 Willamette River bridges.



Blue engraved stones will be installed on the slope south of the Canoe Canal Path under Interstate 5. Fifteen stones will depict the life cycle of the abundant camas, from the bulb's edible underground roots, to its open flowers, to its seeds falling to the ground.



The designs reflect the "Whilamut Passage" theme selected by the community in 2009. When completed in 2014, the installation will enhance local understanding of the Kalapuya culture and the area inhabited by Native Americans.



Teams from the Community Involvement and Long-term Ownership Strategy (CILOS) will participate in the restoration of 3.5 acres of land in the Whilamut Natural Area. They will restore the Willamette Valley upland and prairie habitat by removing non-native vegetation and planting native species. They will add design enhancements consisting of singing perches for birds created by supported tree snags. Some 14 local schools working in groups of 20 - 40 students per school will complete the project over three years. Ongoing education and awareness is an important aspect of this project.

Here's a rendering of the singing perches to be placed in the Whilamut Natural Area.

Over the past few months, a Design Enhancement Steering Committee has worked with the local designers to develop the final recommendation. The Citizen Advisory Group and the Project Development Team reviewed the designs at the end of November and recommended them to ODOT. We have approved the recommendation and will move forward with contracting with Litus for final designs, with installation to be completed by spring 2014.



ODOT appreciates Litus' work and all the volunteers who helped develop these enhancements. They will certainly benefit the area for generations.

ODOT joins local efforts to restore a precious natural area

From ODOT-

More than 237 acres of parklands in the Whilamut Natural Area are along the north bank of the Willamette River, east and west of Interstate 5, and our bridge replacement project.



The Whilamut Natural Area provides for habitat restoration. It is dedicated to passive uses such as walking, bicycling and nature appreciation. Its character is very different than the developed park near the Ferry Street Bridge, farther west near downtown Eugene.



In 2001, the local Citizen Planning Committee voted to rename East Alton Baker Park the Whilamut Natural Area. In 2002, local Kalapuya people joined many other residents to commemorate the official renaming. Whilamut (WHEEL-a-moot), a Kalapuya word, means “where the river ripples and runs fast.”



Ongoing efforts by the CPC and local volunteers focus on restoring the area’s native plants and habitat, with a long-term goal of providing valuable diversity of native plant and wildlife species.



The next time you use the Canoe Canal Path or the North Bank Path, look for restored native plantings and other enhancements that create a more natural environment. ODOT, as part of our Willamette River Bridge project, is a partner with local citizens to restore native habitat in the Whilamut Natural Area.