Design Workshop reporT
Volume 1:  executive summary
-I 5
Bridge
Eugene & Springfield
FeBrUArY 2009
Layout and Design:  Lane Council of governments Creative services
Adam Davidson
Al heyn
Allen Lowe
Andy howe
Ann sanders
Annie Loe
Betsy Wolfston
Bob kline
Carl sherwood
Carla Bengston
Cathleen Corlett
Charles Biggs
Charlotte Behm
Chris Brandt
Chris henry
Chris ramey
David Lewis
David sonnichsen
Dick Upton
Don Angermayer
Don kahle
Douglas Beauchamp
eran schlesinger
eric gunderson
erik Bishoff
esther stutzman
gary rayor
gayatri Mungekar
greg hyde
JF Alberson
Jamie Damon
Jan Fillinger
Javier Castro
Jean Duffett
Jeff Bond
Jeff sakacsi
Jesse McMillen
Jim Tice
Joe Valasek
John Ferguson
John rose
Justin Lanphear
kalin schmoldt
kate Beckley
Larry Fox
Lee imonen
Lisa ponder
Marina Wrensch
Mark Young
Mary Beth Llorens
Matt Travis
Megan Banks
Michael stapleton
Michael swan
Michael Utsey
nir pearlson
philip richardson
randy nishimura
rex redmon
rich hazel
rick satre
robin hostick
scott Clarke
scott nettleton
scott Wylie
shawn Jenkins
steve Turner
Tom Metcalf
Trace Ward
This unique event tapped resources from across disciplines. 
We thank the following individuals for their contributions:
I-5 WIllamette RIveR BRIdge desIgn WoRkshop summaRy RepoRt
TABLe oF ConTenTs
inTroDUCTion
eMerging TheMe
Vision AnD VALUes
proCess
ConsiDer The WhoLe siTe
speCiFiC eLeMenTs
sUMMArY MATrix
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inTroDUCTion
in 2002, oregon Department of Transportation inspectors discovered that 
the interstate 5 bridge over the Willamette river in eugene and springfield 
was structurally deficient. oDoT quickly built a temporary bridge to keep 
traffic moving through the area, and committed to replacing it with a 
permanent structure. oDoT has worked with the public and the engineering 
design team to create a distinctive permanent bridge to accommodate 
future traffic needs. The bridge will be designed to complement the 
community and natural resource values. 
since the project’s inception, a Community Advisory group and project 
Development Team have been involved and continue to provide significant 
input on the project. A subset of the CAg developed the overall theme 
for the project, incorporating elements of different places, users, images 
and words to guide design and establish a lasting identity for the area 
surrounding the bridge.
in 2008, oDoT sought the help of local architects, artists, landscape 
architects, structural engineers and transportation experts to converge 
around design themes for the deck arch-style bridge. The overall theme for 
the project, Whilamut passage, served as a guiding principle. A steering 
Committee of architects, landscape architects, planners, engineers, and arts 
and public involvement professionals worked intensively on the design 
workshop process and final product.in
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eMerging TheMe: WhiLAMUT pAssAge
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-I 5
Bridge
Eugene & Springfield
Emerging Theme: Whilamut Passage
The theme for the Interstate 5 Willamette River Bridge project focuses on words, phrases and images 
that encompass the variety of users—past, present and future. Though the bridge is the central feature, 
the I-5 Willamette River Bridge project incorporates elements of many different places. It is an intersec-
tion in time, a confluence, a crossing. 
This sense of place is represented 
by the river and its natural features 
and native animal and plant 
communities. It is also represented 
significantly by the first peoples, 
the Kalapuya, followed by white 
explorers, settlers, with the millrace, 
earlier commerce and crossings, 
other bridges, later arrivals, and 
current commerce and movement.
Today, as part of a park area that 
includes about three miles of 
frontage along the north bank of 
the Willamette River, the Whilamut Natural Area encompasses 237 acres of 
publicly-owned open space, linking the neighboring cities of Springfield and 
Eugene, Oregon. The Whilamut Natural Area honors the Kalapuya people 
and their language. To the Kalapuya it means, “Where the river ripples and 
runs fast.” 
Hence: Whilamut.
Though its primary impetus is to convey vehicles over the Willamette River as they travel north or 
south, the bridge encourages a flow of people and goods beside, under and through in a variety of 
modes:  trains, cars, trucks, wheelchairs, bicyclers, walkers, boaters, and floaters. 
Passage \Pas”sage\, n. [F. passage.]
1. The act of passing; transit from one place to another; movement from point to point; a going by, 
over, across, or through; as, the passage of a man or a carriage; the passage of a ship or a bird; the pas-
sage of light; the passage of fluids.  
2. Transit by means of conveyance; journey, as by water, carriage, car, or the like; travel; right, liberty, 
or means, of passing; conveyance. Source: Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) 
Hence: Passage.
The emerging, proposed theme, Whilamut Passage, will guide design development, 
place-making, and shape a lasting identity.
january	2009
	 	 	 	 	 	 	
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Vision AnD VALUes 
At the beginning, the steering Committee discussed how they 
would measure success and agreed upon the following values 
and goals:
• The workshops will demonstrate a collaborative effort 
between artistic and technical disciplines, using the 
skills of professionals across a wide spectrum.
• recommendations made by the group as a result of 
these workshops will fit within the parameters given, 
and the ideas will make a significant contribution to 
the final design of a bridge that will inspire civic pride 
for generations to come.
• The group will seek ways to articulate, enhance and 
realize Whilamut passage, the theme of the place that 
includes the bridge, roadways, walkways, canoe canal, 
natural areas, river, intersections, historical artifacts and 
interpretive spaces.
• The process and outcomes will enhance and advance 
the community’s approval of the bridge and the 
intrinsic value of good design.
in responses from a survey conducted by oDoT in May 2008, 
the five most popular words used by the public to describe 
the bridge they hope to see built—graceful,	distinctive,	
memorable,	curves	and	unique—were highlighted.v
is
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proCess
Design workshop participants benefited from community, 
cultural and technical resources. presentations by the 
Citizen planning Committee for the Whilamut natural Area, 
Talking stones artist, Confederated Tribes of the grand 
ronde, a kalapuya elder and a project engineer provided 
historical context, and detail about the Whilamut natural 
Area and bridge design. 
in small interdisciplinary groups, design professionals were 
charged with creating actionable ideas that could enhance 
the Willamette river Bridge and its environs. Celebrating a 
place of natural and historic significance, designers crafted 
an environment where the built and natural settings 
can potentially tell a single story for the traveling public; 
commuters; park users; and the bicycle, pedestrian and 
running communities.
Design workshop outcomes were both visual and written.  
images and text supported each other with “output 
Worksheets,” capturing the words related to the drawings.
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The outcomes surprised everyone. no one 
had ever been part of a process where such 
diverse disciplines worked together so closely. 
Throughout the workshops, the strength of the 
various ideas were tested and preconceived 
notions fell away. The contrasts between the 
foothills and valley, organic and non-organic, 
the two cities of eugene and springfield, and 
industry to the south and natural areas to the 
north, rose to the surface. oDoT and participants 
realized that the project includes not only a 
distinctive bridge but a unified aesthetic vision.
That vision has become clear and the methods 
used to realize the vision continue to evolve.  
The specific elements may be designed by 
interdisciplinary teams, commissioned artists or 
specialized design professionals from the fields 
of art, architecture or landscape architecture.
	 	 	 	 	 	 	
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ConsiDer The 
WhoLe siTe
initial work by the small groups 
focused on the site as a whole, with 
an emphasis on actionable ideas 
that build the experience, not just 
the bridge. patterns arose almost 
immediately. The second saturday 
focused on further developing ideas, 
with each element telling part of a 
larger story.
The purpose of this summary report 
is to tell that story, beginning with 
the whole site, and its layers:  layers 
of time (native Americans, millrace 
remnants, use of the area today); 
layers of experience – fleeting (i-5 
drivers), recurring (commuters) and 
pondering (the site as a destination); 
and layers of spaces – those specific 
elements that combine to complete 
the story.
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Whilamut	natural	area	of	alton	Baker	Park	and	Eastgate	
Woodlands,	Willamette	river	and	urban	surroundings.
The following pages show sketches 
and notes that came out of small group 
discussions.  For a complete list of images 
and output worksheets, please see Design 
Workshop report, Volume 2: process 
summary.
	 	 	 	 	 	 	
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ConsiDer The 
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refining the ideas from the first design workshop 
led to specific design elements.
railings
Bridge Lighting
Walls
Canoe Canal 
Landscape enhancements
•
•
•
•
•
speCiFiC eLeMenTs
sign Bridge
north Bank interpretive Area
Millrace interpretive Area
i-5 Median sculpture
Material reuse  
•
•
•
•
•
ConsiDer The 
WhoLe siTe
	 	 	 	 	 	 	
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railings
• Bridge
• railroad
• “solid” railings/barriers
• “porous” fencing/screening
• Articulation
	 	 	 	 	 	 	
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subtle	lighting	enhances	the	curves	of	the	bridge	structure	
across	the	rogue	river	near	gold	Beach,	Oregon
BridgE	lighting
	 	 	 	 	 	 	
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Walls
• sound Walls
• retaining Walls
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Walls
• sound Walls
• retaining Walls
	 	 	 	 	 	 	
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Walls
• sound Walls
• retaining Walls
	 	 	 	 	 	 	
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CanOE	Canal
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this	drawing	is	a	collaborative	effort	among	the	Willamette	river	
Bridge	design	team,	Citizen	Planning	Committee,	Eugene	Parks	
and	Open	space,	Willamalane	Parks	and	recreation	district	and	
Cameron	McCarthy	gilbert	scheibe	landscape	architects,	and	
served	as	a	source	document	for	the	design	workshops.
	 	 	 	 	 	 	
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CanOE	Canal
• slope paving
• railing
	 	 	 	 	 	 	
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landsCaPE	
EnhanCEMEnts
• Camas meadow
• riparian enhancements
• Allees
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landsCaPE	
EnhanCEMEnts
• Camas meadow
• riparian enhancements
	 	 	 	 	 	 	
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landsCaPE	
EnhanCEMEnts
• riparian enhancements
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nOrthBOund
i-5	sign	BridgE
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nOrth	Bank	
intErPrEtivE	arEa
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nOrth	Bank	
intErPrEtivE	arEa
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nOrth	Bank	
intErPrEtivE	arEa
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text:	raccoon	tracks	cross	several	paths,	show	
the	animal	journey	to	the	river	to	wash	its	food,	
the	user	notices	the	tracks	over	several	visits,	
eventualy	ties	them	together	with	the	stone	
by	the	river	that	depicts	the	food	the	raccoon	
washes	kamas	or	grass	footprints
	 	 	 	 	 	 	
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MillraCE	
intErPrEtivE	arEa
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a
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MillraCE	
intErPrEtivE	arEa
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i-5	MEdian	sCulPturE
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MatErial
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u
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sUMMArY MATrix
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the	design	workshops	
generated	hundreds	of	
ideas.	the	participants	
and	the	organizers	paid	
special	attention	when	
an	idea	recurred.	at	left	
is	a	matrix	that	shows	
how	ideas	began	to	form	
clusters.	the	hope	from	
the	start	was	to	discover	
the	unifying	ideas	that	
will	honor	and	animate	
the	place.	On	this	page	is	
a	glimpse	of	how	those	
unifying	ideas	first	began	
to	emerge.
THEME sout
h 
approa
ch
sout
h 
bel
ow
on 
bridge
 or profi
le
nort
h 
bel
ow
nort
h 
approa
ch
fle
et
in
g (I-5 c
om
m
ut
er)
rec
urri
ng
ponde
rin
g (de
sti
na
ti
on)
al
l t
he
 t
im
e 
(ne
igh
bors)
above
 de
ck 
fea
tu
re
sha
pes 
& su
rfac
es
pla
ce
s & spa
ce
s
"le
ss is 
m
ore"
"wea
vin
g - spa
ce
"
"wea
vin
g - h
ist
ory"
"wea
vin
g - e
xperi
en
ce
"
"organ
ic
 & i
norga
ni
c"
"ta
nsi
ti
ons 
- n
exu
s"
"a 
ligh
t 
tou
ch
"
th
em
e 
or va
lu
e
projec
t 
or proposa
l
ac
ti
on 
it
em
Description  = LOCATION =  == SPEED ==  STYLE  ==== THEME ==== FOCUS
LESS IS MORE
Respect the bridge design 2 1 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1
Build the experience, not the bridge 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 2 2 2 1
Reuse as a value - economy, elegance 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 2 1 2 2 2 1
WEAVING - SPACE (UNDULATION)
RR railings - undulating lines 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 1
RR crossing - throw bridge screening 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 1
Sound Walls - angular (basalt) 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 2 2 1
Sound Walls - flowing (floral) 2 2 1 1 2 1 2 1 2 2 1
Allees along river edge 2 1 2 1 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 2 1
A Camas Meadow 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 1 1 2 1
Sloped walls at Canoe Canal 1 1 1 2 1 1 1
WEAVING - TIME (HISTORY)
Mill Race interpretive area 1 2 1 1 2 1 2 1
Layers of history 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 2 2 2 1
Updated "Talking Stones" 1 2 1 1 2 1 2 2 1
WEAVING - TIME (EXPERIENCE)
Burma Shave solution 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 2 1
One-Minute Movie 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 1
Camas as metaphor 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 2 2 1
Sign bridge as start 1 2 1 1 1 2 1
Sculptures - responsive, not kinetic 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 2 2 1
Sculptures - north approach 2 1 1 1 2 1 2 2 1
ORGANIC & INORGANIC
Plant pockets on soundwalls 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 1
Plant pockets on sloped sides 1 1 1 1 2 1 1
Plants on sculptures 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 1
Plants as sculptures 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 1 2 1
Sculptures as plants 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 1
Landcsape Movie 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 2 1 2 1
TRANSITIONS - NEXUS
Allees along river's edge 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 1 1
Landscape movie 1 2 1 2 2 1 2 1
Eugene - Springfield (Franklin) 1 1 1 1 1
foothills - meadow 1 1 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 1
Knickerbocker as midpoint 2 1 1 1 2 1 1
A LIGHT TOUCH LEGEND
fiber optics or LED lighting 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 2 2 1 1
"tip-toeing across the river" 2 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 1 primary connection
creative reuse of bridge materials 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 2 secondary connection
telling the story - 5 bridges 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 1
-I 5
Bridge
Eugene & Springfield