Recent sightings on the Willamette River Bridge project

From ODOT-

Our contracting team regularly takes amazing photos of the work under way. This means I get to share with you some of these one-of-a-kind views. Enjoy!

Here, a worker is finishing the surface of the new southbound bridge arch.

The size of this worker standing next to the temporary fish ladder on the south bank of the Willamette River illustrates how large it actually is. We’re also excited to say we’ve already seen fish using the ladder.

We recently told you about the extensive reuse and recycling of demolition waste that our crews do. In this picture, you can see just a small portion of the material that they work with.

Among the recycled materials is this reinforcing steel, which gave the temporary detour bridge its strength. The new southbound bridge is at left.

Above, you can get some idea of how large the bridge beams are from the demolished temporary detour bridge! Varying in length from 80 feet to 115 feet, each beam requires its own truck and dolly trailer to be hauled away from the site for reuse or demolition.

Here’s another shot of beams from the temporary detour bridge being prepared for transport. While our worker is safely protected from falling into the rushing waters below, this job is definitely not for the faint of heart!

 

Temporary fish ladder to help with migration

From ODOT-

In cooperation with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, our contractor installed a temporary fish ladder near the new Willamette River Bridge.

You may wonder what a fish ladder has to do with the new bridge. Let me explain.

A protected wetland fed by waters from Augusta Creek, Glenwood Slough and other local streams sits on the south bank of the Willamette River near the bridge. Currently, water from the wetland flows through a pipe under Franklin Boulevard to the river. Unfortunately, juvenile fish can’t get safely into the river because the pipe outlet is too high above the river. This also prevents mature fish from returning upstream to spawn.

Recently, biologists identified cutthroat trout upstream from the pipe outlet. We have built a fish ladder—a series of steps that helps fish swim around barriers—as a temporary solution to support the local fish population.

Our bridge project includes restoring the wetlands and stream system on the south bank of the Willamette River to enhance the natural setting and support fish and wildlife habitat. When the bridges are complete, we will restore the streams in the project area, remove culverts, create spawning ponds and reconstruct a historic stream channel outlet to allow for fish passage without needing a fish ladder.

Until then, the temporary fish ladder will allow cutthroat trout living in the waterways on the south bank of the Willamette River to move freely.

Boy Scouts help with habitat project

From ODOT-

A team of Boy Scouts recently helped us out by conducting small scale environmental improvement work on Augusta Creek. They placed wood and gravel into the creek to improve fish passage. They completed this in one day and by the next day, the water was clear and the site looked great.



We would like to thank Boy Scout Troop 100 as well as the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, who led the effort.



This picture shows the newly improved Augusta Creek.