Pacific overpass

Is it public art if it’s kind of hard to see?

Written November 7th, 2025 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 15 responses.

It was five years ago that Albany installed an art arrangement of sculptures near a busy highway. If no one talks about it much, or at all, it’s because the thing is kind of hard to see.

Posted in: Bicycling, Commentary, News
Tags: Lyon Street, Pacific overpass, public art, steel wildflowers

Three city lots: Council wants an appraisal

Written November 24th, 2024 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 8 responses.

The Albany City Council has taken the first step before deciding to dispose of three city-owned lots on Jackson Street and Ninth Avenue near the Helping Hands homeless shelter, which already owns most of that block.

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: Albany City Council, city lots, Helping Hands, homeless lots, homeless shelter, Pacific overpass, surplus city land, Van Vleet Meat

Group hopes to purchase old roller rink

Written March 24th, 2024 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 5 responses.

Because of a message someone had sent me, the bike and I stopped in front of the old Albany Skateway roller rink near the Pacific Boulevard overpass one rainy day last week.

Posted in: Bicycling, Commentary, News
Tags: Cadwell Real Estate, Montgomery Street, Pacific overpass, roller rink, skating rink, Social Club, Southern Pacific R.R. Overcrossing

What happened here? A fire on June 10

Written June 27th, 2023 by Hasso Hering

Comments: no responses.

The hill on the south side of the Pacific Boulevard overpass bears the obvious traces of a recent fire. I could not help noticing this on Monday when I rode on the pathway between Albany Station and Swanson Park.

Posted in: Bicycling, Commentary, News
Tags: Albany Fire Department, fire, hillside fire, June 10 fire, Pacific overpass, Pacific viaduct, railroad underpass

Pursuit and shooting: The police statement

Written January 3rd, 2023 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 6 responses.

The Albany police on Tuesday identified the driver of the car in Monday’s pursuit and shooting incident as Steven Anthony Schmidt-Shelton, 40, of Corvallis.

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: Albany police, Corvallis police, Oregon State Police, Pacific overpass, police chase

Fire prevention: Overpass slope cleared of brush

Written May 27th, 2021 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 4 responses.

Part of the Pacific Boulevard overpass in Albany looks different these days: It has been cleared of most of the vegetation that made the place a fire danger in dry years, as it did last summer.

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: Albany Fire Department, brush fires, ODOT, overpass fire, Pacific overpass

The great pigeon mystery

Written December 2nd, 2014 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 2 responses.

Of all the light poles in and near downtown Albany, why do flocks of pigeons habitually perch on two or three of them on the northeast end of the Pacific Boulevard overpass? They seem to hang out there all the time, year in and year out, and there must be a reason, but it’s a […]

Posted in: Commentary
Tags: feral pigeons, Pacific overpass, piegons