What about that bridge?  The back story from Al Densmore 

By Joni Johnson

Al and Sally Densmore have lived at the Manor since Spring, 2019.  We arrived just about the same time.  I was very excited to know that we had a former Mayor of Medford living here.  And then I learned about the Al Densmore Bridge…  How much better than that can it get?  But what about the bridge?  Why and how did it get built?  Why was it named after Al?

Al Densmore has been involved in politics and public service most of his adult life.  He was born and raised in Portland and went to school at Portland State University. At PSU he earned his B.S. in political science with a secondary education credential. He was hired by the Medford School District to teach social studies in 1968. As a volunteer with the local Democratic Central Committee, he learned that the party didn’t have a candidate to run for a county-wide office as state representative. He was elected and began the first of three terms in the Oregon House of Representatives.

Al rose quickly in the leadership of the Oregon House and in his second term was appointed to chair the House Local Government and Urban Affairs Committee. In that 1973 legislative session, Jackson County Commissioner Isabel Sickels and County Parks Manager Neil Ledward presented to Al and his committee the concept of a greenway trail along Bear Creek linking all of the communities and parks from Ashland to Central Point and beyond. The idea was written into bill form and ultimately passed into law in the summer of 1973. The city of Medford soon constructed the first section of trail.

Over the four subsequent decades, individual communities, led by the non-profit Bear Creek Foundation and Jackson County, helped construct additional sections of trail with the financial help of private citizens and businesses as well as state and federal grants. In 2006, the remaining gap to an unbroken trail of 22 miles was the at-grade crossing at Barnett Road.

Now we are getting to the bridge.  In order to alleviate the nation-wide recession of 2007, Congress passed an economic stimulus measure that offered grants for projects that were “shovel-ready” (already engineered ready to go to bid quickly). Medford’s share of these funds was approximately one million dollars. The bridge estimate was approximately two million dollars. There were two ways that the city council could respond – either repave Stewart Avenue or build the bridge that was a capstone to the Bear Creek Greenway. Al worked tirelessly to find the additional funds by working with the regional transportation planning body. The bridge was completed in 2012.  It was a major piece of construction to enhance the safety of pedestrians accessing the Greenway without putting themselves in danger as they tried to cross Barnett.

At first people called it the BOB – the Bridge Over Barnett. In 2015 County Commissioner Don Skundrick approached the city of Medford with the idea that the bridge be named after Al because of his unceasing efforts on behalf of the Bear Creek Greenway, and it was so dedicated.

So how does it feel to see that bridge as he drives Barnett almost every day?  He says, “It’s humbling because you don’t expect things like this to occur in your lifetime.” It is very visible and public, and by nature Al prefers to work behind the scenes to build bridges and solve problems.

Al and Sally came to the Manor in 2019 because of the sense community, personal support and very importantly, the ability to avoid cooking.  How lucky we are that he and Sally are here.