Riverfront Connections: Lewis and Clark Festival Park

In The Dalles, East 1st Street and adjacent properties from Union Street to Laughlin Street posed unique development opportunities and design challenges within the heart of the community. The area had long been an unattractive, back alley view of the community from Interstate-84 and a neglected downtown street. The four-block long right-of-way was complicated by the adjacency of Union Pacific Railroad mainline tracks, unequal and narrow ROW widths, major elevation differences with adjacent properties, National Historic District requirements, and access issues. These challenges also offered a multitude of design opportunities for a distinctive streetscape and park redevelopment which ultimately has become a focal point for redevelopment and an invigorated downtown center. East 1st Street is now a gateway from the downtown to the Columbia Riverfront where vehicle, bicycle, and pedestrian traffic intermingles. GreenWorks and a team of engineers developed preliminary and final designs for East 1st Street streetscape, a pedestrian/bicycle under-crossing of the two mainline Union Pacific Railroad tracks, a pedestrian plaza at Washington Street, a cruise ship and public dock area connecting the City of The Dalles to the Historic Columbia River, and the iconic Lewis and Clark Festival Park. The project has served to enhance community identity and encourage economic development.