This article is the twenty-fourth in a series profiling the varied and amazing nominees for the 2009 Alice B. Toeclips Awards, which will be presented to five winners at the Alice Awards & Auction tonight. We won’t be able to profile everyone, so read the nominees’ descriptions online. This profile was written by BTA correspondent John McLaren.
The Clackamas County 
Water Environment Services Department (WES) has been nominated for an Alice Award for guiding the restoration of a venerable bridge that is prized by cyclists and pedestrians, giving them a safe and easy route over the Clackamas River.
The bridge, more than 300 feet long, provides a peaceful passage for cyclists, runners, and walkers traveling over the Clackamas River between Gladstone and Oregon City. On the Oregon City side it is near the Tri-City Water Pollution Control Plant. Access from Gladstone is at the end of 82nd Drive, just past Safeway.
The 82nd Drive/Park Place Pedestrian Bridge was reopened last November after it was forced to close in August 2006 due to damage caused by an arson fire. The bridge also carries a key pipeline linking North Clackamas County sewer lines to the Tri-City Water Pollution Control Plant in Oregon City.
Repairs were undertaken by Mowat Construction of Clackamas under direction of an 11-member WES team led by Randy Rosane. The project came through on time and under budget.
Built in 1921 by the Oregon Highway Commission, the bridge was a major auto connection between Oregon City and Gladstone until 1986 when it was converted into a pedestrian only bridge. Since then ownership has changed hands several times. The name of the bridge also has changed a few times, it seems, and it still differs depending on which side you are on. Most people know it as either the Park Place Bridge or the 82nd Drive Pedestrian Bridge. When WES sought public input for a name change, there was little interest in calling it anything else. Regardless of what it’s called, Gladstone and Oregon City residents are delighted to have it back again.
I thought this bridge was the old Oregon City interurban streetcar bridge. It ran until 1958 when the old Morrison Bridge in Portland was replaced.
The rail bridge is farther down stream, between the featured bridge and the 99E/McLoughlin bridge. I remember driving over it as a teenager, in the early seventies, it was nerve-wracking as it was very narrow for the two lanes of traffic that it allowed.