BY TIMOTHY A. SCHULER

A recent study shows that Portland’s public docks nicely suit swimmers.

FROM THE DECEMBER 2017 ISSUE OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE MAGAZINE.

Early morning swims across the river. An annual river float and beach party. A full-moon, women-only swim known as “Naked Goddess.” These are just some of the events organized by the Human Access Project to encourage people in Portland, Oregon, to dip their toes (and more) in the Willamette River. After all, says Willie Levenson, the ringleader (his official title) of the nonprofit organization, the river is the city’s largest public space and ought to be seen and used as such. Most recently, Levenson enlisted the help of MIG’s Portland office to explore the feasibility of repurposing downtown boat docks as places for sanctioned swimming.

City planners, working with Mayer/Reed, already had evaluated downtown Portland for potential swimming areas but had focused mostly on beaches. Levenson saw the city’s docks as another, potentially cheaper point of access. Working practically pro bono (Levenson’s budget was $5,000), MIG chose five docks in Portland’s Central City and evaluated them for accessibility, safety, sun exposure, and water quality. Right away, MIG principal Lauren Schmitt, ASLA, saw the potential. “There’s huge demand, this infrastructure already exists, these sites are publicly owned, and with very, very little lift—some ladders, some signs—there could be tremendous, very visible activity right at the water’s edge all through downtown,” Schmitt says.

A graphic by MIG envisions the many potential uses of Portland’s Duckworth Dock, where swimming is currently prohibited. Image courtesy of MIG.

MIG’s study was completed in May 2017 and is intended as a companion to the city’s 2016 swimming study. It found that one of Portland’s most promising swimming areas is off Duckworth Dock, north of the Burnside Bridge. The dock’s U shape makes it a ready-made swimming hole, Schmitt says, with enough protected water for 25-meter swim lanes and platforms for jumping. And, located near the Rose Quarter Transit Center and connected to the Eastbank Esplanade, the dock is already highly accessible.

The one hurdle is that the dock currently has an encumbrance that prohibits nonmotorized use. But Portland’s mayor, Ted Wheeler (who swam across the Willamette to cast his ballot in the 2016 mayoral election and has since participated in an annual Mayoral Swim), and other city and state officials have committed to removing the encumbrance before its expiration in 2021. Schmitt, herself a longtime open-water swimmer, has become an enthusiastic proponent of the project. This past summer, she joined the Human Access Project in a series of “splash mobs” off Duckworth Dock. “Again, you’re not supposed to do that,” she says, chuckling, “but if you’re with a group of people, you go, okay, they’re probably not going to cite me.”

Timothy A. Schuler, editor of Now, can be reached at timothyaschuler@gmail.com and on Twitter @Timothy_Schuler.