This just in from the Portland Parks Bureau:
– PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT –
Repairs to Eastbank Esplanade to begin Tuesday, February 9
Construction vehicles will require intermittent, but brief, closures to trail
(Portland, OR) – Repairs to a sagging section of the Eastbank Esplanade will begin next Tuesday, February 9, and are expected to last a minimum of two weeks, pending any additional emergency repairs that might be discovered during the project. During that period, the trail may be closed periodically for approximately 15 minutes at a time for safety issues as construction vehicles move in and out of the repair area.
Construction will be done weekdays from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., but any temporary closures will be restricted to between 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. to limit the impact on pedestrians and cyclists who use the Eastbank Esplanade as a commuter route to and from downtown Portland. Work will discontinue on the weekends and will not affect special events such as the Worst Day of the Year ride on February 14.
On November 6, Portland Parks & Recreation closed a small portion of the Eastbank Esplanade to bicycles and pedestrians for safety purposes after a 400′ section of the paved portion of the trail experienced some sagging. The location of the repairs is roughly 500 feet north of the Morrison Bridge. SE Stark Street is an east/west directional indicator of the location of the closed section.
ODOT repairs to affect trail
Later this winter, Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) crews will perform concrete repairs on the Morrison Bridge pedestrian undercrossing that crosses under the Interstate 5 Morrison Bridge off-ramp. The undercrossing work will also require closing the pedestrian undercrossing and intermittently closing the Eastbank Esplanade for up to 15 minutes as crews perform overhead work and move equipment. ODOT will distribute more information about the pedestrian undercrossing project before work begins.# # #
Wouldn’t it be great if, rather than a frigging huge freeway alongside the Esplanade, there was a big park? Wouldn’t it be great if the whole waterfront area on both sides of the river was car-free? Wouldn’t it be great if you could actually get off the Esplanade at say, Stark or Taylor, or anywhere between Hawthorne and the Rose Quarter?
you can get off the esplanade at Burnside.
thanks for posting this, Jonathan. I appreciate that they’ll be minimizing closures during peak commuting times — I use this route twice a day and I’ve been wondering when they are going to fix that section. I’m glad they’re addressing this before traffic increases in the spring/summer.