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November 5, 2007

Unique bridge nears completion

Photo courtesy of Jones & Jones Architects [enlarge]

Construction is nearly complete on a pedestrian bridge that stretches over Route 14, connecting historic Fort Vancouver to the waterfront and marking a stop on Lewis and Clark's expedition.

The historic Vancouver site features a 40-foot wide, earth-covered pedestrian bridge, designed by Jones & Jones Architects and Landscape Architects, that will lead to the Columbia River waterfront. Art installations there are designed by Maya Lin, designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. The general contractor is Kiewit Pacific Co.

The $12.3 million Vancouver Land Bridge is a partnership of Confluence Project members, the National Park Service, the city of Vancouver and the Washington State Department of Transportation. It was made possible through federal, state and private funding.

The confluence project is focusing on seven sites along the Columbia River Basin, adding permanent art installations by Lin. The project is the work of a group of Pacific Northwest Native American tribes and civic groups from Washington and Oregon. Each site along the 450-mile course was a scene of meeting between Native Americans and the Lewis and Clark expedition.

The confluence project is budgeted at $27 million and will be completed in 2008.

The land bridge, at the Vancouver National Historic reserve, is the third stop on the confluence project path between the Pacific Ocean, at Cape Disappointment State Park, and the Chief Timothy Park in Clarkston.

The Land Bridge will present pre-settlement landscape conditions, with native plantation sustainably re-planted at the site. Interpretive work by Lin will focus on historic interactions between tribes and settlers. The bridge's design draws on the significance of the circle to Native American tribes. Views from the bridge to Fort Vancouver and the river will reconnect pedestrians with the land.

Fort Vancouver was built 20 years after Lewis and Clark camped there in 1805, at the confluence of the Columbia River and Klickitat Trail.

A dedication of the project is planned for next spring.




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