Happy Solstice!

In the Northern Hemisphere, peak sunlight usually occurs on June 20, 21, or 22 of the year, giving us the Summer Solstice. In Portland, that means 15.5 to 16 hours of daylight. Enjoy the extra daylight with a bike ride along the Trolley Trail, which can be reached from TriMet’s SE Park Station on the Portland-Milwaukie Orange Line. GreenWorks provided landscape architectural services for the final design of the Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail. Along the trolley trail section, GreenWorks provided trail improvements including plant selections. For more information on the Orange Line: http://catchtheorange.com/#/stations

Zidell Yards in ASLA Sustainable Transportation Article

Zidell Yards is noted in an ASLA article on Sustainable Transportation. Click "ASLA article" to read the publication.

Orange Line Featured in May LAM Magazine

Check out the May issue of Landscape Architecture Magazine with a feature article about the TriMet Orange Line Portland –Milwaukie Light Rail (PMLR) project. GreenWorks was part of the team that assisted TriMet in the regional effort to extend light rail service from downtown Portland to downtown Milwaukie and North Clackamas County. The Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail project is a vital transportation element in the region’s strategy to manage growth and build livable communities for future generations. GreenWorks provided landscape architectural services for the final design of the Portland Milwaukie Light Rail including planting and irrigation design, green infrastructure, sustainability initiatives, and art coordination. The team also assisted in coordination and collaboration efforts with TriMet, Clackamas County, Multnomah County, the cities of Portland, Milwaukie and Oregon City, the Oregon Department of Transportation and the Portland Development Commission.

The new bridge built for the Orange Line, Tilikum Crossing, is named after the Chinook word for people to promote this unifying vision for the project. The opening of the Orange Line poses a new manner of viewing the cities of Portland and Milwaukie as connected communities. Rail tracks are all too often a symbol of division. The design for the Orange Line rejects this archetype. Our landscape approach was informed by the connectivity that is inherent to the project and will strengthen the region over time. The project is a catalyst to fundamentally heal the urban fabric socially, culturally, and environmentally. This concept is manifested in every detail of the project, from the overall vision down to the plants selected. Our design team chose fast-growing, pioneer species that colonize and begin the process of natural repair to the site disrupted by the new infrastructure. These plantings quickly create mass and scape for an immediate recognizable identify. The design also includes stable, mature plant communities to support and achieve the long-term aspirations, which stich the neighborhoods and the communities to the station areas. The Orange Line PMLR project is above all about connecting people and bringing economic vibrancy to the Portland Milwaukie transit corridor.

https://landscapearchitecturemagazine.org/ (also available at Powell’s City of Books)

Grand Opening of Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail

The much anticipated grand opening of the Orange Line, TriMet’s newest addition to its growing light rail network , was held on Saturday September  12th. The event, which spanned the length of the new 7.3 mile line, saw an enormous turnout of citizens excited to ride the new line and enjoy the event festivities at each of the new stations along the route. One of the day’s highlights was riding a train full of people and hearing the cheering that erupted as the train crossed onto the new Tilikum Crossing bridge that spans the Willamette River. There was genuine excitement in the air for this new significant addition to the fabric of Portland. GreenWorks is proud to have been a part of the design team on this project, involved with the landscape design at stations along the six mile long east segment of the line. For more pictures and video of the day, go to the link provided below.

http://howweroll.trimet.org/2015/09/14/max-orange-line-grand-opening-a-historic-convergence-video/

OR 213 Redland Road Crossing Update

GreenWorks worked the City of Oregon City and OBEC Consulting Engineers in developing planting and irrigation design for the following OR213 Redlands Road Crossing, providing planting and irrigation design services for the Jughandle Project. Specifically, GreenWorks worked closely with the City of Oregon City and OBEC Consulting Engineers in developing planting designs for the following: solar-powered irrigation controller, 82 new street trees, over 500 landscape trees, and over 25,000 shrubs and groundcover plants. The city has done an excellent job maintaining the planting and keeping the this gateway to Oregon City beautiful since the project was completed. Check out the most recent photos below.

What is a Log Dog?

We hear this a lot in reference to the art feature of the Clay Street Green Street project in Portland’s Central Eastside Industrial District (CEID). The Log Dog sculptures incorporated into the Clay Street swales reference and celebrate the district’s industrial past. In the 19th Century, the lumber industry used the Willamette River as a conduit for transporting logs to the lumber mills established along the banks of the river. Logs were tied together into rafts and piloted down the Willamette in massive convoys. These log rafts where chained together by cable that ran through attachments known as log dogs. The historic log dogs were like thick needles, driven into the floating logs before a cable was pulled through the eye and cinched to bundle them together, creating a raft. GreenWorks designed the streetscape for a 12-block section of SE Clay Street. Working with KPFF and artist, Linda M. Wysong, the green street provides a pedestrian friendly corridor from the Ladd’s Addition neighborhood to the Eastbank Esplanade, strengthening connectivity and improving the pedestrian realm. The green street honors the industrial district’s history through the art installations and interpretive elements. GreenWorks has contributed to the redevelopment of Portland’s Central Eastside Industrial District (CEID) over the last decade through improvements to the Clay Street Right of Way / RiverEast pedestrian plaza and most recently with Clay Street Green Street. The completed project provides sustainable environmental benefits, including vegetated stormwater management, pedestrian and bicycle passage, and strategies that maintain freight movement and business activities throughout the CEID.

The project’s artist describes the inspiration on the Clay Street Log Dog: “The Wetlands were filled, the mill erected and a city built. The land is transformed as the water continues to flow. It may seep into the earth or be hidden by stone and concrete, but it continues to connect, sustain and give form to our lives. Honor and protect the river.” Linda M. Wysong, artist

Green Innovations from Portland BES

Portland Bureau of Environmental Services has created a video about green innovations within the city. You can check out the video on their website or below.

Cascade Avenue Under Construction in Sisters, Oregon

Construction of the Sisters Cascade Avenue (US 20) streetscape project is making progress. This project will increase walkability downtown while expressing the identity of Sisters.

Lake Oswego 2nd Street Project Completion

Our 2nd Street project in the heart of downtown Lake Oswego has come to an end, and we wanted to show a few photos of the finished product. With the slight narrowing of the curb to curb width of the street, the City transformed the street into a beautiful modern streetscape within the core of the downtown business district. Widened sidewalks, street lights, benches, driveways, street trees, and unique stormwater planters were all delicately knitted together by the design team to deliver a streetscape project that will benefit the surrounding business community while protecting the urban watershed. This project included a number of significant design elements such as:

1. Lined stormwater planters and curb extensions that will manage approximately 1,000,000 gallons of urban runoff while protecting adjacent commercial basements
2. Structural soil tree wells that extend under sidewalk to provide and additional 10 cubic yards of additional root space per tree.
3. Efficient inlet design to ensure stormwater capture on a steep street
4. Unique low fencing around facilities patterned after fencing at City's Millennium Park Plaza

We were privileged to be part of an incredible team that included City of Lake Oswego staff, Kittelson and Associates, and 3J Consulting.

Salem's Minto Island Bicycle and Pedestrian Bridge in the News

Click here to read about the history and overview, as well as some of the technical issues surrounding this transformative project in downtown Salem.