In Vancouver, Wash., parks, a walkway, restaurants, hotels and condos have taken the place of a concrete batch plant, a hydrogen peroxide manufacturer and other heavy industry that lined the Columbia River. In Bellevue, nearly 30 acres on Lake Washington is reserved for Newcastle Beach Park, an area for bicyclists, walkers and swimmers. About eight acres on the Willamette River in Portland, where the original sawmills operated until fires destroyed them, are now restored to their natural state with a small pond and wooded area. A viewing platform and floating dock allows folks to fish and tie up boats. River Park Center, a three-story office building, is nearby.
Vintage streetcars run daily along Seattle's waterfront.
Retailers and property owners support the streetcars, which carry more than 220,000 passengers every year. A similar riverfront trolley that operates along the Mississippi River in New Orleans was modeled after the Seattle waterfront streetcar project, Breen said. Such redevelopment costs money, however. Some communities have been creative in that respect. The nonprofit group Oregon Nikkei Endowment raised money and built the 1.65-acre plaza within the Tom McCall Waterfront Park on the Willamette River.