Barbara Walker Crossing

Portland’s Wildwood Trail winds 30 miles through the forests of Washington Park, Forest Park, and Hoyt Arboretum, rarely crossing roads, with one notable exception. For decades, the busiest and most dangerous road crossing has been at West Burnside, a major city arterial, where runners and walkers were forced to negotiate three lanes of heavy traffic with limited sight lines.

Led by artist Ed Carpenter and bridge designer KPFF Consulting Engineers, Walker Macy supported this multi-partner project with pro-bono site and trail design services to help resolve this longstanding access issue and contribute to the identity and quality of experiences in Forest Park. The bridge is 178’ long measured at the center of its curving deck. Its basic structure is a tri-chord truss of rusting and painted steel.

Now known as the Barbara Walker Crossing, this is a project of the Portland Parks Foundation in partnership with Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R), Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT), and Metro.