
It would not be winter if Bryant Park in Albany didn’t get flooded for at least a few days, sometimes for weeks.
Tags: Albany gauge, Albany parks, Bowman Park, Bryant Park, Calapooia River, flooding, Willamette River, winter rains
It would not be winter if Bryant Park in Albany didn’t get flooded for at least a few days, sometimes for weeks.
If you’re wondering why Albany’s Bryant Park is still closed to motor vehicles weeks after the annual flooding has subsided — and even if you’re not wondering about that — it’s because the cleanup is not complete.
On my first bike ride after Oregon’s mid-January ice and snowstorm, I found Bryant Way closed near the Albany city limit.
Going up the Third Avenue bridge from Bryant Way on Saturday, I looked to my right to see if the shaft of the Albany hydropower turbine was rotating. What caught my attention instead was the two-tone coloring of the Calapooia River below.
When you’re on your bike in Albany, it’s not often that a snake crosses your path. When it does happen, you may want to stop and take a closer look, which is what I did one day last month.
If anyone had plans for a Mother’s Day picnic at this shelter in Albany’s Bryant Park, well, those plans had to be changed.
Albany hydro: No power since April 2024
Albany’s small hydropower plant has been shut down for more than a year, which I didn’t discover until I asked about it this week. And I doubt it will ever operate again.
Tags: Albany hydro, Calapooia River, Santiam Canal, Third Avenue Bridge, Vine Street plant, water treatment plant