“Paving that section of abandoned rail would go a long way to making it easier for residents of that part of Tigard to get into downtown.”
— KT, from a comment on our story last week
On Tuesday, the Tigard City Council approved a resolution that would allow them to assume responsibility for an abandoned railroad line and they will now chalk up plans to convert it into a non-motorized trail.
News of the vote comes from Tigard city planner Duane Roberts. Roberts said they’ll still have to wait for Pacific Western Railroad to submit an official request to abandon the line to federal authorities, but that is expected to happen soon.
We wrote about this opportunity last week and Roberts said the story generated ten support letters; letters which will now be attached to Tigard’s official rail use permit to “demonstrate community support,” Roberts said. Nice work BikePortland readers!
Once complete, the new trail will stretch nearly one-mile. It will follow Tigard Street and will run from Tiedeman to Main Streets (see map here).
One commenter to our story last week who wrote a letter of suport said that, “Paving that section of abandoned rail would go a long way to making it easier for residents of that part of Tigard to get into downtown… and since the City has large expensive plans to revitalise their downtown core, anything that gets people to shop and eat down there is a good thing!”
The official resolution echoes that comment. It states that the trail will have many benefits including:
“…providing children and seniors a safe, off-street alternative to the adjacent Tigard Street, which includes no sidewalks along eighty percent of its length and also includes a narrow, substandard bike lane on one side of the street only.”
Learn more about this project in the comments left on our story last week.