A personal watercraft driver speeds past the logjam on the Albany railroad bridge Friday afternoon, April 18, 2025.
On Friday morning, a faithful reader asked a question in the comments on this site. I gave a quick answer but then got on the bike to make sure my answer was right.
“Have my eyes failed me,” commenter Richard Vannice wrote, “but is the tangle of trees, limbs, etc. that was hung up on the south railroad trestle pylon been removed by some agency or has old man river taken care of the problem?”
After reporting on this growing feature of the Willamette River along the Albany waterfront for years, had I missed something? Had there been a great cleanup or removal operation under that bridge while I wasn’t looking?
Sadly, no. I took my usual bike ride along the Dave Clark Riverfront Path in the afternoon and was able to determine, by keen observation and photographic proof, that the logjam was still there.
As I’ve said before, neither state not railroad officials have taken much interest in getting rid of that logjam. So it will just get a little bigger year by year. (hh)
Up and down the river, this and other personal watercraft were riding the smooth waters of the Willamette River Friday.
The logjam on the railroad bridge’s southern in-water pier has grown a little over the past winter.
They can’t do anything, Hasso. They have to wait for it to cause a catastrophe first. LOL!
Given time, the logjam could serve as the base for a military-style pontoon bridge, alleviating the current bridge-traffic crisis. Cheap, never-ending materials made in America by real American forests – available and abundant. Replacement timbers are delivered via gravity and water flow, thereby eliminating any need for good-paying trucking jobs for delivery. And little in the way of public funding. This should appeal to all Hasso Hering regulars.
I surmise the RR simply hasn’t considered it “bad enough” to invest in the removal. One would think just getting the needed equipment there (and back where they take the needed equipment when done) would incur much expense.They are just trying to make it more cost effective when push comes to shove. After all, how many times has it knocked the bridge down?
These kinds of log structures provide habitat and resting places for migrating fish. While not “pretty” they happen in nature, even if this one is on an abutment. I say leave it be until nature takes it away.