18-foot sculpture hails Big Pipe project

by Michael Bales, special to The Oregonian

Thursday April 23, 2009, 7:00 AM

MICHAEL BALES/SPECIAL TO THE OREGONIANThe sculpture at an entrance to the North Portland Greenway Trail is known as the “Big Pipe Portal.”

A new public sculpture on Swan Island frames the Willamette River and city’s west side in an 18-foot arch of concrete and steel. The arch, installed at an entrance to the North Portland Greenway Trail, artistically links the river to what’s buried nearby: the Big Pipe project, which reduces sewage and storm-water pollution in the Willamette.
Just southwest of the sculpture, the westside pipe tunnel crosses beneath the river and intersects with the Swan Island Pump Station, most of which is at the bottom of a 165-foot shaft. The eastside pipe tunnel, still under construction, is scheduled to reach the station in 2011.

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