Portland: day 3

Burnside Bridge (above) and CalPortland Cement (below)

Gunderson Marine (above) and downtown Portland (below)

Heidelberg Concrete (above)

As part of the case study for the class, everyone got on the boat and spent the day on the Willamette River between downtown and Saint Johns.  It's amazing to see Portland from this perspective.  A city that prides itself on its bridges, but so few are able to see Portland from the water.  And it shows: much of its waterfront is industrialized and polluted from a century of river-based enterprises that operated with little regard to the environment.  The EPA has identified Portland Harbor as a Super Fund Site which is tricky because cleanup is costly and extensive and the waterfront is still industrial in most areas.

Southbound I-5, north of Morrison Bridge (above) and Linnton Mill Restoration Project (below)

I-5's Marquam Bridge over the Willamette River (above) and the Port of Portland's Berth 206 (below)

Port of Portland's Terminal 4 (above) and a rubber tire shredding and recycling plant (below)

Saint Johns Bridge

Nonetheless, Portland's future is optimistic because there are big players with deep pockets who have a vested interest in cleanup as a means to develop the waterfront further, but responsibly.

The last steam-powered sternwheeler tugboat in the country, the Portland (above) and Steel Bridge (below)

The oiler, USNS Henry J. Kaiser (above) and the oiler, USNS John Lewis (below)

The USS Blueback, docked at OMSI

And then, although I got back to Salem in time, there was a healthy snow storm that hit on March 2!