Ron & I took our first walk across the newly opened foot and bicycle bridge from West Salem to the Riverfront Park downtown Salem on Sunday. We are so excited about all the development and changes in our community. When we moved to West Salem in 1975 there was only one traffic bridge with two way traffic. We have seen another bridge open to allow for one way four lane bridges - heard talk of building another traffic bridge in the future - and now the old Railroad bridge built in 1912 has been converted to a foot and bicycle path which in the future will connect three parks, Wallace Marine Park to Riverfront Park with path ways running all the way to Browns Island Park South of Salem. The dream of community planners is becoming reality as the old "Boise Paper Mill" is coming down - making room for our vision of a beautiful river access all along the Willamette River.
Just like a personal dream or vision, a community vision requires years of gaining enough people to see the same picture of benefits equal to or in excess of the cost in hours of time and acquiring the funds to proceed. We are really beginning to see the "big picture" of this user friendly environment for the enjoyment of people just like us.
We saw lots of people enjoying this new opportunity to connect while taking a leisurly walk across the Willamette. We spoted nesting geese on the bridge structure and will be watching them in the future - since it seems like such a long way for baby geese to jump!
No comments:
Post a Comment