On Tuesday night at the Hollywood Senior Center, the City of Portland hosted the first official public open house for the Sullivan's Gulch corridor project. Nearby residents and others simply curious about what could be a major new carfree thoroughfare came to learn more about the project.
As I pulled up I ran into veteran regional trail planner and Metro employee Mel Huie. Mel shared my excitement that the project is finally at this point. "It's been a long time," he remarked. When I asked how long, Mel said he first recalled talking about it about 15 years ago. (more...)
If you're a fan of the Sullivan's Gulch Mobility Corridor (a.k.a. the Sullivan's Gulch Trail), than any news from the City of Portland is worth getting excited about (the project has been talked about since 1996!). When complete, the project will result in a five mile non-motorized transportation corridor connecting the Eastbank Esplanade to Rocky Butte and the Gateway District in East Portland. (more...)
Last week I directed your attention to the Sullivan's Gulch project. I wanted more people to be aware of a meeting held last night by the Portland Parks Board which included the project on its agenda.
The Sullivan's Gulch project (calling it a "trail" is a misnomer), which would connect East Portland to the Willamette River along I-84, is exactly the kind of investment we need to make if we want to live up to our green transportation rhetoric and meet our lofty carbon emission and bike usage goals.
Reader Carl Alviani went to the meeting last night and I asked him to share what he heard. Read Carl's report on the meeting below (emphasis mine): (more...)
Next week (4/6), the Portland Parks Board will hold a public meeting in St. Johns. The meeting notice caught my attention because one of the three "important" agenda items is the Sullivan's Gulch Trail.
Why am I sharing something seemingly so minor as a meeting that will include a discussion of this project? Because for some reason (at least from my perspective), the Sullivan's Gulch Trail needs all the attention it can get.
(more...)
"The real strength of Minneapolis is its absolutely gorgeous, truly world-class off-street path system. Each has separate space for pedestrians. I biked on a half dozen wide, gorgeous separated bike-ped bridges."
-- Mia Birk, CEO of Portland-based Alta Planning
In the wake of Portland losing the #1 ranking in Bicycling Magazine that we've owned since 1995, I've been thinking about what Minneapolis has that we don't have.
I've come up with a few things.
Lots of Off-Street Trails
This is probably the best thing going for Minneapolis' bikeway system. They've got 84 miles of off-street trails (like our Esplanade and Springwater Corridor) that connect through their metro area. Take the Midtown Greenway for instance, a 5.5 mile former rail corridor that can get you all the way across town. (more...)
The North Portland Greenway Trail is on the cover of the "InPortland" section of The Oregonian today. The exposure for the project is an important boost to the project -- whose backers need more political support to make it a reality.
The story lays out how the trail has made some small steps of progress, but that its actual construction is still far off (the advocacy effort behind the trail is already four years old):
"Even its lead advocate, however, sets 10 years as an optimistic timetable for the Greenway to receive funding and be fully constructed."
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