(Photo: Portland Parks)
Earlier today we shared the good news: That PBOT will re-open Better Naito three months early.
Here’s the bad news: They’re doing that because the Portland Parks and Recreation Bureau will close the Eastbank Esplanade for two months starting February 1st.
Parks is working in partnership with PBOT, the Bureau of Environmental Services, and the Regional Arts and Culture Council on a major maintenance and repair project on the popular path. The closure will last until April 1st and the affected section will be from the Hawthorne to the Steel Bridge. This is an extremely popular path that PBOT estimates carries about 2,400 daily bicycle trips and 1,200 daily walking trips.
“This long-planned project will improve safety and park amenities, replace invasive vegetation with native species, and restore our public art,” said Parks Commissioner Nick Fish in a statement released today. Among the improvements coming will be: replacement and repair of concrete, degraded surfaces, and various amenities, new and improved lights, and the cleaning of trash and graffiti.
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Two major events already planned — the Worst Day of the Year Ride (February 20th) and the Shamrock Run (March 17th) — will be permitted to use the path during closure.
As we shared earlier today (the rollout of this announcement wasn’t as smooth as I’d hoped because I was out of the office on-assignment most of the day), PBOT has stepped up to provide Better Naito to help with the detour. You’ll be able to start biking in the two-way protected path on Naito starting January 28th and it will stay up through the summer festival season.
The project to restore this 1.5-mile section of the Esplanade to its original beauty is brought to you by $500,000 in the City’s 2018-19 adopted budget and $200,000 in ongoing maintenance funding.
— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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