An abandoned bridge near Gladstone is being scrapped by its owner, Union Pacific. Some trail advocates had hoped to improve the bridge and extend the Trolley Trail across it, but recent rains caused the bridge's supports to fail.
It was once a playground for the community, and some hoped it would again be a place for families and recreation.
But piece by piece, the historic trolley bridge near downtown Gladstone is going away, as are visions for its future as a trail.
The Clackamas River swept out some of the bridge's footings last week, and Union Pacific, which owns the bridge, decided this week to scrap it before it could damage nearby properties.
The news was a major disappointment to advocates of the Trolley Trail, especially Tammy Stempel, who led the charge to try and extend the trail south from Portland Avenue in downtown Gladstone, across the Clackamas River and toward Oregon City's Cove area.
Stempel was on hand last Thursday when the bridge first started to list.
"A group of us were there, watching it fall into the water, and everybody had a story about that bridge and what it meant to them," she said. " Some people talked about jumping off that bridge when they were kids."
Gladstone Mayor Wade Byers has fond memories of the bridge, which was built in 1893.
"It was the neighborhood jungle gym," Byers said. "We kids played on it and crawled all over it."
The bridge was only a half-mile downstream from another pedestrian bridge, but that made for a lengthy walk across the Clackamas for downtown Gladstone residents. Portland Avenue, that city's main street, seemed particularly well suited for a pedestrian extension to the south, said Metro Councilor Carlotta Collette.
"The current Trolley Trail ends at Gladstone, the assumption is people will use Portland Avenue. If you’re standing on Main Street… what you see is that bridge," said Collette, whose district includes the bridge. "It would have connected right up to the new Cove development in Oregon City."
Before the demolition, the Trolley Trail extension was on its way to becoming a possibility. Stempel’s group was awarded a $200,000 grant to study the bridge’s feasibility for a pedestrian trail.
"We spent a year and a half on the grant. We were about to start a feasibility study," Stempel said.
(March 7, 2014)
She said that she is still trying to get over the shock of the bridge collapse.
Byers was also startled by the swift downfall.
"I was surprised that it was that deteriorated," Byers said. He knew that the bridge was seriously worn out but didn’t know it was as bad as it was.
Stempel said she’d still like to see a pedestrian bridge in that spot.
"We want to continue to have a bridge, but now it wouldn't be that bridge," she said. She hopes to use the grant to study how a new bridge could be built.
Before that could happen Gladstone would need to submit a request to the Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation and the Metro Council to change the scope of the project, which would then accept or reject the change.
Byers said that plans moving forward will be decided by the Gladstone community, but he’d prefer to see more money put into repairing streets and sidewalks.
Regardless of what happens in the future, Stempel said the bridge will always be a part of the community.
"This bridge meant so much to so many people," she said. "This bridge is part of the Gladstone identity."