City begins public process to design North Portland Greenway corridor

One of the few paved segments
of the corridor on
Swan Island.
(Photo © J. Maus)

The City of Portland is ready to start the public process on the North Portland Willamette Greenway Trail, a shared-use path that will someday extend the Eastbank Esplanade 10 miles — all the way to the St. Johns Bridge.

Citizen activists first came together to advocate for the project nearly six years ago. In May 2009, Metro ponied up $450,000 to help plan the route. Now, the City of Portland Parks & Recreation is looking for people to serve on the official Project Advisory Committee (PAC).

Mary Jaron Kelley says the formation of the PAC marks the first step in a public process to help design the route. “Some pieces [of this project] have already been designed, but there are gaps.” The City has teamed with engineering firm David Evans & Associates to help lead the PAC, with the goal to determine the alignment of the path.

In an email seeking PAC members, Kelley wrote:

Portions of the trail will be off street but there will be areas on-street with several large street crossings. The study will evaluate physical and environmental design constraints and determine a preferred, buildable alignment… By determining the alignment, this project will lay the ground work for the future construction… The Project Advisory Committee (PAC) will be a large, diverse group consisting of stakeholders, community members and agency staff. It will serve in an advisory capacity to the project team. The city is seeking individuals who can contribute in specific areas of expertise and who are willing to assist in outreach and communication.

The PAC will meet 4-6 times between December 2011 and 2012. Check out the official project website just launched on the PP&R website.

If you’re interested, email Kelley at mary (at) npnscommunity (dot) org and download a PDF of the interest form and questionnaire.