path already exist.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)
The City of Portland Parks & Recreation bureau has announced the beginning of the North Portland Greenway Trail Alignment Project — launching a 14 month process similar to the one they’re doing for the Sullivan’s Gulch Project.
When complete, the process will (hopefully) turn a 10-mile long, non-motorized path that will extend the northern end of the Eastbank Esplanade to the Columbia River, from dream to reality.
This is big news for a big project that has been many years in the making. Over six years ago I recall attending the very first public meeting of this project. It was hosted by citizen volunteers calling themselves, “Friends of the Greenway.” That group morphed into the full-fledged non-profit “npGreenway” which is still going strong today. npGreenway did a ton of heavy lifting to advocate for this project and bring it to where it is today.
Where is it today? Here’s how the Parks bureau puts it:
“Over the next 14 months, the committee will help develop a technically feasible and user-friendly trail plan. Committee members will collaborate with the community, stakeholders and property owners to understand and address various needs and concerns going forward.”
Deliverables of this process are to include a preferred alignment for the corridor, an aerial and terrain base map of the alignment, cross-sections/design features, a list of “private property impacts” and “right of way needs” and preliminary cost estimates.
Get out your calendars, because they’ve also nailed down dates for Project Advisory Committee meetings and open house events:
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January 25 PAC meeting- this will be an introductory meeting
March 14 PAC meeting
May 16 Open House
May 23 PAC meeting
September 12 Open House
September 19 PAC meeting
November 28 Open House
December 5 PAC meeting
All events will be held on Wednesday nights from 6:30 to 8:30 at the Chiles Center (Hall of Fame room) on the University of Portland campus (5000 N Willamette Blvd).
It’s hard to estimate when we’ll be rolling and walking on this new path, but if it has any chance of being funded and built (which I believe it does), this City-led planning process is a crucial step.
Stay tuned to BikePortland for developments. In the mean time, get up to speed via the npGreenway blog and check out the official project website.