Route advisory: Columbia Slough Bike/Walk Bridge to close for up to 3 months

Get ready for a closure of a popular biking and walking bridge in north Portland.

The Portland Bureau of Environmental Services needs to repair a sewage pipe near their Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment Plant. Crews need to repair a leak in a pipe (that’s not currently carrying any sewage) and to do so they plan to close all access to the bridge on the Columbia Slough Trail just north of the plant. The project starts January 30th and is expected to last until the end of April.

Here’s more from BES:

The 11-mile force main carries flow from the Inverness Pump Station east of I-205 to the Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment Plant. A 36-inch pipe splits into a 20-inch and a 30-inch main two miles from the treatment plant and both pipes run under the pedestrian bridge.

When maintenance crews discovered the corrosion-caused leak in the 30-inch pipe, BES transferred flow to the 20-inch pipe. The project will insert a 24-inch HDPE pipe into the damaged main and connect to the existing pipe at both ends of the bridge. Repairs will close the bridge to pedestrians and bicyclists for up to 90 days.

This bridge is a popular connection to Kelley Point Park, Smith and Bybee Lakes and Marine Drive. The suggested detour is to use Columbia Blvd (which has a dedicated sidewalk/path) to ride about one mile east to get to North Interstate/Denver Avenue just north of Kenton. Once across the Slough, you can access the Columbia Slough Trail which will remain open between during the project.

Learn more about the project here and you can sign up for email updates here.

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org

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