) Thrive SUSTAINABILITY ISSUE (
25th Annual Willamette
Valley
HARDY
PLANT
9am to 2pm | Saturday
May 7
INDOORS
AT T H E FA I RGROU NDS
w w w. th e h ar dy pl antgroup. or g
R AILINGS FROM
AN OLD AR T DECO
BRIDGE GE T NE W
LIFE AT OLD NICK'S
PUB
REUSABLE RAILINGS
An Art Deco bridge is finding new life By Camilla Mortensen
b
ridges aren’t just transportation structures; they can be iconic parts of the
landscape. Picture the Golden Gate or any of Lane County’s covered bridg-
es. But what happens when the structure is no longer usable?
Rather than simply demolish the 1930s art deco railings of Hwy. 101
Siuslaw River Bridge as the bridge is retrofitted by the Oregon Department
of Transportation, BRING Recycling is finding new homes for the decora-
tive railings, which span 24 feet and weigh 4 to 5 tons.
The Siuslaw Bridge was designed by renowned State Bridge Engineer
Conde McCullough and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places,
says Carolyn Stein, BRING’s executive director. Many of the deck railings
from this bridge are being reused in the Florence area, she says, and railings from the very
similar and recently retrofit Cape Creek Bridge near Heceta Head and the Lee Patterson
Bridge in Gold Beach have come to Eugene where they can be found at Old Nick’s Pub,
Abbelone Vineyard and at BRING’s own Planet Improvement Center.
Concrete often gets ground up and used in road construction, but reusing the railings
preserves the history of that era, she says, and the embodied energy (carbon) is kept intact.
There’s a benefit to keeping that, even if it’s decorative.
The railings are “strictly decorative,” she says, as they are not up to code for seismic
standards. They are being replaced on the bridge with replicas.
BRING is working with Hamilton Construction on the project, and Stein cautions
that the size and heft of the railings mean “you can’t just throw them in the back of your
pickup truck.” However, you can contact BRING to arrange for pickup if you want to
purchase a piece of Oregon transportation history.
Interested Lane County residents can check out the railings at BRING and see if they
might be a welcome addition to their yard at BRING’s Earth Day birthday celebration. For
the civic as well as eco-minded, every donation BRING receives by Earth Day, BRING
will give SquareOne Villages 10 percent of the value in building materials for the Emer-
ald Village tiny homes.
“Giving Back to the Planet” is 11 am to 4 pm Saturday, April 23, at 4446 Franklin
Blvd., in Glenwood. EWEB, the city of Eugene, Lane Regional Air Protection Agency
(LRAPA), the city of Springfield and more will join BRING at the celebration, which
began last year after Eugene ceased its Earth Day bash at EWEB. ■
Doak Creek
Native Plants
CREATE HABITAT FOR POLLINATORS,
BUTTERFLIES & BIRDS
Plant Northwest Native Plants in Your Garden!
Open Year Round By Appointment
Calm Before The Storm
Oregon and National Campaigns at Halftime
Monday, April 25, 6:30 p.m.
Knight Law Center 175
.Betsy Boyd
.Jack roberts
.Jeff mapes
.serena cruz
Assoc. VP of Federal Affairs,
University of Oregon
Senior Political Reporter,
OPB
Oregon Lottery Director
Executive Director,
Virginia Garcia Memorial
Foundation
541-521-9907
83331 JACKSON MARLOW RD. • EUGENE
www.doakcreeknursery.com
eugeneweekly.com • A pril 21, 2016
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