“If we had $50 million in hand, would we spend it developing one corridor or do we want to spread the love around the city?”
— Roger Geller, City of Portland bike coordinator
Trail advocates are polishing up their comments on the Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030.
Backers of the Sullivan’s Gulch Trail — a path still in planning stages that would run from I-205 to the Willamette River along I-84 — say they’re concerned that the new plan does not give off-street paths the respect they deserve.
(Graphic: Sullivan’s Gulch Trail Committee)
Paul Manson with the ad-hoc Sullivan’s Gulch Trail Committee says he thinks trails should play a larger role in the plan. According to Manson, the plan “focuses on the shared on-street network.”
“Trails are too often treated as just recreational facilities. We really want to see separate non-motorized routes called out as the platinum standard for bikes.”
Citing the overwhelming success of trails like the Springwater Corridor and the Eastbank Esplanade, Manson says, “Trails are too often treated as just recreational facilities. We really want to see separate non-motorized routes called out as the platinum standard for bikes.”
Manson is particularly concerned with two parts of the Plan: How it seeks to remove the current classification of “Off-Street Paths” and the fact that the Sullivan’s Gulch is called out as a “Tier Two” priority. Here’s an excerpt from a draft copy of the Sullivan’s Gulch Committee’s comments:
“By removing off-street paths as a classification, we worry that this type of facility will be lost as an option in future transportation planning. We believe that separate, non-motorized facilities including pathways, provide exceptional benefits that cannot be replicated through shared motorized on-street facilities.”
Currently, the City of Portland has three bike-related street classifications, “City Bikeways”, “Local Service Bikeways” and “Off-Street Paths”. PBOT transportation planner Denver Igarta says the term off-street paths refers to a facility type, and they plan to create more of a “functional hierarchy” for bikeway classifications. In the new plan, off-street paths like the Esplanade and the Sullivan’s Gulch will be labeled as “Major City Bikeways” (the top classification in the hierarchy).
Manson, and other trail advocates like longtime activist Lenny Anderson, feel like the Sullivan’s Gulch should not be listed as a Tier Two priority. “Tier one [about $100 million in projects] is a status quo funding scenario… It’s what should happen even if there was no plan, it is low hanging fruit. Tier two gets to the iconic, defining projects we need to see.” says Manson.
“The challenge with limiting your planning to your funding is that you are then hostage to the old way of budgeting.”
Lenny Anderson, who works as the manager of Swan Island’s Transportation Management Association, has made also voiced concerns about the lack of what he calls “signature, transformative projects” like the Springwater or Esplanade.
Anderson has worked on the Willamette Greenway Plan and feels — much like Manson feels about the Sullivan’s Gulch — that it should be “on the cover of the Bike Plan, not in Tier Two for development in 20 years”.
PBOT bike coordinator Roger Geller said he wants to see the Sullivan’s Gulch trail built too, but that he’s trying to make decisions based on providing “the highest level of comfort for the most people as quickly as possible”.
Geller says that’s why PBOT is aggressively pursuing bicycle boulevards. “They are the most affordable for us to implement and we thing they offer the most bang for the buck.” One of the problems with Sullivan’s Gulch, he says, is that it will be “tremendously expensive” to build [an estimated $25-50 million].
“If we had $50 million in hand, would we spend it developing one corridor or do we want to spread the love around the city?”
Geller also said PBOT is unlikely to dive fully into support the Sullivan’s Gulch in the plan at this time because it’s simply not ready for prime time. It is currently undergoing study and analysis and the main landowner, Union Pacific Railroad, could decide to not even let the project happen. “It has significant ownership and operational issues,” says Geller. “I think if the environment [surrounding the Sullivan’s Gulch Trail[ was different, you’d see us able to give it a higher priority in this plan.”
That being said, Geller feels both the Transportation and Parks Bureaus have a strong track record of supporting development of off-street paths, but Manson thinks they haven’t gone far enough. “The city can do more – people want it and we can plan for it.”
The Bicycle Master Plan will get a public hearing tomorrow evening at Planning Commission (see full details here). You can make comments on the Plan until November 8th by emailing bicyclemasterplan[at]pdxtrans[dot]org.