Portland swimmers flock to upgraded Willamette River dock

Published 12:00 am Thursday, August 20, 2020

As the August 2020 heatwave grips the western states, with highs from Death Valley (130 degrees) to Vancouver B.C. (90 degrees), Portlanders have been heading to the Kevin Duckworth Memorial Dock.

In July, the Portland Bureau of Transportation installed aluminum ladders to make access easier, particularly for swimmers. On recent days the 11 foot wide, 290-foot-long dock, which creates a protected, 30-foo-deep swimming hole between itself and the esplanade, has been crowded.

The ladders were key, according to Willie Levenson, leader of the Human Access Project, which has crusaded for more active use of the Willamette River in the central city.

“When you walk by the ladders now, it’s really clear that this is the swimming facility,” Levenson told the Portland Tribune. “The ladders are like this simple key to open up a really complicated treasure box. I’ve become a hobby landscape architect during this process. Six years for approval, four hours to install!”

Since July 2020, the dock has been open for use by swimmers, paddlers, fishers and boaters. Swimmers have long stayed away because hauling oneself on to the sharp deck material was difficult.

In July, the Portland Bureau of Transportation gave the green light for ladders to make access easier. Human Access Project privately fundraised to pay for the ladders and their installation, which was done by marine manufacturers Topper Industries of Woodland, Washington, who specialize in gangways, docks and pedestrian bridges.

The dock has been due to its east side location near bridges and industrial land. It was built in 1997 and funded by the Oregon State Marine Board to attract motorized boaters and serve water taxis. But those uses largely failed to materialize. An earlier plan to relocate the dock to Swan Island near the Daimler Trucks North America headquarters was dropped in the face of community opposition.

“We installed them in July quietly because of the pandemic and because of the important focus on the Black Lives Matter movement,” he explained. “My observation so far is that people have been respectful and figured out how to enjoy themselves wearing masks. And being outside is, of course, really big mitigation (of the virus).”

Levenson says there are two kinds of Willamette River swimmers, the serious swimmers who do laps for exercise, and the river waders, who play in the water 10% of the time and spend the rest of the time on land, people watching and relaxing.

“This whole dock culture happens there where people are hanging out on the dock, and then motorized boats that don’t necessarily anchor on the dock pull up and join in the energy of the dock.”

With the pandemic, Portlanders torn between staying home and finding socially distanced outdoor activities. The Human Access Project has designed Willamette River beaches such as Poets Beach under the west end of the Marquam Bridge. Poets Beach is showcased annually during the Big Float, which was canceled this summer due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The river current is around half a mile per hour (and stronger around the full moon and new moon tides), so paddlers can easily make loops up and downstream. Levenson says people who put in at Willamette Park boat launch often make the Duckworth Dock their turn around point, getting out to take a breather.

The Kevin Duckworth Memorial Dock was named after the popular former Trail Blazers player who died in 2008 aged 44.