Governor Tom McCall Waterfront Park

Multnomah County - Burnside Bridge Test Shaft Work UPDATED May 7, 2025 In early 2025, Multnomah County constructed a 10-foot diameter shaft (or foundation) just north of the west end of the bridge in Tom McCall Waterfront Park.

Multnomah County’s Earthquake Ready Burnside Bridge Project now has a clearer picture of how soil composition will interact with new Burnside Bridge foundations.

This comes after several months of work building a 10-foot diameter test shaft (foundation) just north of the Burnside Bridge in Tom McCall Waterfront Park.

Construction and subsequent testing finished in March and fencing around the construction site came down Friday, May 2.

Check out the project’s time-lapse video for a full look at the test shaft work. For more information and updates, please visit the County's project page at multco.

It was nicknamed 'the Bulldog of the United States Navy' and fought in many famous battles before it was retired from service.

Listen to a reading of the USS Oregon commemorative plaque located in Waterfront Park.

Designed by Robert Perron Landscape Architects and Planners, the fountain is controlled by an underground computer that changes the pattern of the fountain's 185 water jets.

The three cycles of the fountain are called misters, bollards, and wedding cake.

At full capacity, the fountain recycles 4,924 gallons of water per minute through as many as 137 jets at once. On August 3, 1990, the Japanese Ame

The idea for this park came at the turn of the century when the 1903 Olmsted Report pointed out the need not only for parks within the city, but for a greenway scheme for the riverbanks in order to ensure their preservation for future generations. The 1912 Bennett Plan again showed a need for more parks and river greenways, but instead of reorienting itself to the river, the city's focus was pulled further inland. In the late 1920s, the seawall was built along the Willamette's west bank for the protection of downtown from the annual floods. The seawall not only cut off the water from the people, but the people from the water as well. The construction of Harbor Drive along the west bank in the 1940s continued the trend of isolating the public from the river. With the opening of the Eastbank Freeway (Marquam Bridge, I-5), Harbor Drive became less important to the traffic flow of the city. Governor Tom McCall created the Harbor Drive Task Force in 1968 in order to study proposals for creating a public open space in its place. In 1974, Harbor Drive was torn up and construction of a waterfront park began. It was completed and dedicated in 1978, gaining instant popularity. In 1984, the park was renamed Governor Tom McCall Waterfront Park.