2
November
News
Oregon City Bridge construction leads to two year closure
A lison F ieldhouse
Starting in 2010, say
goodbye to early morning
or after school trips to Dutch
Bros. The Oregon City Bridge
will undergo construction
that will not finish until 2012.
Fourteen thousand cars drive
over the Oregon City Bridge
on a daily basis and 230
bicyclists and pedestrians
travel across each day. The
bridge is a shortcut for many.
So what will this mean for
regular bridge users?
"The bridge will not be
accessible for two years, but
there are alternate routes.
Just take 1-205 North onto
the Abemethy Bridge and
from there, enter into Oregon
City using Highway 99 East,"
Susan Hanson, Community
Affairs Coordinator for
Region One, said. The
alternate route is a longer
drive, but only slightly; it is a
block further away.
Funding for the bridge is
90% Federal and 10% state
funds. No funds came from
the stimulus money.
The current bridge is
made of a steel base encased
within a layer of concrete
called Gunite. The bridge
has held up since 1922, but
the Oregon Department of
Transportation on one of
its routine bridge checks
bridge will not be built.
"The bridge will remain
the same as it is now because
we are simply fixing up the
bridge. It will however be
slightly wider, but not much,
so that fewer side mirrors
are taken off," Hanson said.
Because the OC Bridge
has been registered in the
National Register of Historic
Places, it will not be torn
down, but renovated.
Although the bridge will
be closed, ODOT will be
providing shuttles for any
bicyclists and pedestrians
that need to travel to Oregon
City. There were a couple of
options that were debated,
d eterm ined that it w as finally
inclu d ing ferrying people
time for it to be fixed. A new
across and allowing use of
Photo by Libby Kara
In 2010, the Oregon City Bridge will be closed for construction. The
bridge was first opened on Jan. 1, 1923 and served as a shortcut for
many commuters. Construction will not be completed until 2012.
Vocalists chosen for Honors Choir
E lise B rown _________________
The All Northwest
Honor Choir is made up of
the best of the best singers
from Alaska, Washington,
Montana, Wyoming, Idaho
and Oregon. Oliver Muggli
and Lauren Wilkinson,
freshmen, were recently
selected to join to the All
Northwest Youth Choir.
Hannah Stout and Sam
Anderson, seniors, were
selected for the All Northwest
Women's Choir and All
Northwest Men's Honor
Choir, respectively.
All four auditioned at the
beginning of the school year
by recording an audition tape
in class with Barbara Fontana,
choir director. "We had to
record ourselves singing
some scales and 'America the
Beautiful,' then we sent all the
tapes to the Northwest Honor
Choir office," Muggli said.
"The audition process
is designed to test their
accuracy of pitch, beautiful
vocal tone, and technical
skill," Fontana Said. "1500 to
1800 people audition every
year. The Men's and Women's
Honor Choirs have 100
singers each and the Youth
Choir has about 160." The
Men's and Women's Choirs
are made up of students in
grades 10-12, and the Youth
Choir includes students in
grades seven through nine.
The All Northwest Honor
Choirs are sponsored by the
American Choral Directors
Association (ACDA), of
which Fontana is a member.
Every year, Fontana
encourages students to make
an audition tape. Students
who audition must have
behavior in good standing,
which the choir teacher and
principal must confirm for the
All Northwest Honor Choir
directors.
Once accepted into the
Honor Choir, the participants
receive the sheet music for
what they will perform and
practice on their own time.
Internationally recognized
guest conductors are hired
by the ACDA to rehearse
the choirs in a three day
workshop that is held at the
same time as the NW Choral
Directors Conference. The
conference then concludes
with a Gala Concert featuring
each honor choir. The All
Northwest Honor Choir will
perform in Seattle, Wash., in
March 2010.
"It's fun to meet new
people and meet new voices,"
said Stout, a veteran of the
choir. She was in the Youth
Choir in eighth grade and
the Women's Choir her
sophomore year. "It's a place
for great singers to perfect
their singing with other great
singers."
the bridge. However, there
will be too much equipment
working on the bridge for
there to be room for cars to
use the bridge while it is
under renovation.
The Oregon City Bridge
will be closed, but that does
not mean the city itself
will also be closed. The
businesses and restaurants
will still be open and fully
serviceable.
"We've been working
with the local merchants to
ensure that people are aware
that businesses are still
open. Oregon City will still
be accessible even though
the bridge will be closed,"
Hanson said. Many students
who use the bridge will have
to find another way to access
the town. There is no doubt
that the reconstruction will
be beneficial, but it will be
inconvenient for many of the
people who use the bridge
daily.
"I think it's good that the
bridge is being closed and
fixed. It needs a lot of work
and every time I drive over, I
don't have the greatest sense
of stability," Anik Shrestha,
senior, said. "It's a known fact
that the Oregon City Bridge
has parts that are crumbling
and could use a new paint
job."
New Primary School looks to set itself
apart from other schools in the district
Mew Primary School_______ ,
continued from page 1
According to Woehl, this
building will accomplish at
least the silver rating and will
most likely use solar paneling,
eco-friendly building materials
and a water reuse system. The
architects building the school
have worked with West Linn-
Wilsonville for over 20 years
and have designed many of
the schools including West
Linn High School.
“We have a little over 300
over capacity in the district
at the pYimary level," Woehl
said. Portable classrooms
have had to be utilized at
Willamette and Stafford
Primary Schools. One of the
main goals of building the new
school, according to Woehl
is to eliminate the portable
classrooms.
The building site —
referred to as the Erickson
property will be on a patch
of land south of Hidden
Springs, on the North side of
Rosemont Road. This land
was purchased by the school
district in 1988 and set aside
for a school if there was ever
a need.
The inside of the school will
be drastically different from
current schools. The library
will feature what Woehl refers
to as a "Multidimensional
Library." It will use the floor,
walls, ceiling and lofts to
create a more open space. It
will be two stories with a slide
going from the upper level to
the lower level. There will be
several little cubby holes in
which to read, with little forts
indoors.
The changes will not
end there. There will be no
cafeteria, either. The idea
behind this will be that
Students will use the porch
areas between classrooms
as places to eat. As a result,
the gymnasium will have a
different design as well, which
will include using it as a place
to eat. There will be a stage
that children can use during
lunch time.
This school will hopefully
be open for the 2011 school
year, but because of some
delays in the voting process on
the annexation of the property,
construction may not begin
until this coming summer. As
for the name, Woehl says that
the School Board will choose
it, but there will be a process
in which the community can
help to choose the name. The
land where the school is to
be built sits on the wetlands,
just beyond the city boundary
of West Linn. "There are no
name choices as of yet, but I'm
sure the community will come
up with a great one," Woehl
said.
"We're trying to leave
it very much in its natural
space," Woehl said. After
a vote was passed in early
September added the land to
the city of West Linn. Without
the land being part of the city,
it could not cultivate a West
Linn School. The land itself
will influence the building of
the school. There is a stream
running through the property
and according to Woehl,
will be incorporated into the
playground.
"Most playgrounds are just
grass, but we plan to use the
trees in the property and have
it feature tree forts," Woehl
said.
With any addition to
the school system, there
are boundary line changes.
But West Linn-Wilsonville
has what Woehl calls "soft
boundary lines" which means
that regardless of attendance
areas, students have choices
in which schools they attend.
As of now, the school will feed
into Rosemont Ridge Middle
School.
Graphic courtesy of Dull Olson Weekes Architects
Plans are underway for the new LEED certified primary school, including a multidimensional library,
complete with indoor forts. The design of the new school differs from all others in the district, including
a gym with a stage students can use during lunch, and no cafeteria.