(Photos and story by Will Vanlue)
The Fanno Creek Trail, which the Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation Department is grooming for a name-change to the Fanno Creek Greenway, will soon be a little safer for people traveling around Main Street in Tigard.
I was passing through the area the other day and noticed crews spraying herbicide on overgrown blackberries on an existing but inaccessible piece of the popular path north of Highway 99.
It reminded me that construction on a new section of the Fanno Creek Trail is scheduled to start this summer, which will connect Main Street with Grant Avenue. It will allow people to travel along the Fanno Creek Trail, from southern Tigard up through Beaverton, without having to cross Highway 99. (Jockeying for space with people eager to zip onto Highway 99 can be intimidating, especially for children and people less comfortable riding with high-speed motor vehicle traffic.)
There’s an existing trail leading under the highway but right now it leads to a narrow, overgrown path that’s way too small for wheelchairs or strollers. The path runs parallel with the highway and drops you out in the middle of an off-ramp leading from 99 into a nearby store’s parking lot.
The new, ADA-compliant section of trail is scheduled to open later this year and will give people living in the neighborhoods around Main Street and Highway 99 a much safer, saner, and more enjoyable way to access parks, schools, and stores in the vicinity.
It will also mean an easier commute for all the people who ride home along the trail, resulting in better access to happy hour at the Fanno Creek Brew Pub!
More information about the new section of the Fanno Creek Trail is available on the City of Tigard’s website.
— This story by contributor Will Vanlue was originally posted on his blog, The Prudent Cyclist. Read more of our Washington County coverage here.