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Sometimes in this industry we do get it right. The Port of Ridgefield, Wash., is an example of such a case.

The port owns a former wood treatment facility that had left extensive contamination. Through persistence, doggedness and plain old stubbornness they have just celebrated finishing the cleanup of their contaminated site.

Port officials also had strong state Senate and regulator support. The Port of Ridgefield is a small port with commissioners who are local business leaders with a strong interest in creating value for their community. They decided to take this project on. In the next 15 years they spent approximately $80 million to clean up 44 acres of prime riverfront land.

The success of this project is remarkable in that it’s a small community in a rural area. These four commissioners cleaned up a relatively small site and serve as an example for larger sites.

There’s no shortage of sites that need cleanup. The Portland Harbor cleanup, a major project for the city, has been on the local radar screen for too many years. Perhaps the Portland group should take a field trip to Ridgefield to see how it’s done.

The Port of Ridgefield managed to accomplish a project that, on a relative basis, is no less complex and daunting. It was pretty clear at the opening ceremony that the commissioners – some who served over the time frame of the entire cleanup – were themselves impressed that there was an end to this effort. Their next challenge will be to develop this acreage.

Environmental cleanups are some of our most intractable and challenging projects. Time frames are extensive – usually decades. Political will wanes in these time frames. Costs are enormous and potentially responsible parties have significant skin in the game. Government regulators play a critical role.

Cleanups are complex with contamination from many different sources over many years. Today we look at this and shake our heads and wonder what our parents were thinking when they allowed this to happen. But every generation is faced with challenges that the previous generation hands it.

Solutions require smart champions and innovative thinkers to bring these sites back to productive use. The Portland Harbor cleanup project affects Oregon’s economy in a big way. A lot of Oregon’s economy goes through the port area. While we spend a lot of time thinking about ball fields, bridges and other sexy infrastructure components, these Portland waterfront facilities deserve more than equal time.

Christian Steinbrecher is president of Columbia River Port Engineers Inc. and the immediate past president of the Oregon Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers. He is the editor of ASCE Oregon’s Report Card on Oregon’s Infrastructure.