Here’s a quick update on the Red Electric Trail and SW Capitol Highway projects:
It has been a few months since I toured the Red Electric Trail bridge and path projects, and after checking them out over the weekend I’m happy to say they seem to be moving along nicely. I was very surprised to see two supporting pillars already standing, and supporting small platforms that we’ll soon be walking and biking on. This is the first time that I have really understood the design of this project. The image on the project website is stylized, so it has been hard to tell from it what was planned.
The trail runs parallel to Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy, just to the south, and it will provide a low-stress walkway and bike path connecting what locals call “Little Bertha” to Capitol Hwy.
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The $27.5 million SW Capitol Highway project is moving forward with concrete pours for retaining walls. The southbound lane of SW Capitol Hwy is closed until November 2022, traffic is being diverted to SW Garden Home->SW 45th/48th until Taylors Ferry.
The project has installed 7,000 linear feet of green stormwater pipe which will convey runoff from street inlets to large, landscaped stormwater treatment basins. The treated water will then enter streams in the Fanno and Tryon watersheds. The Portland Bureau of Transportation is emailing construction updates every two weeks to those who sign up.
I visited the site early Labor Day morning so I could poke around without getting in the way of the construction workers, and to avoid heavy traffic. Several joggers and dog-walkers had the same idea. With the lane closed the entire area feels transformed. One passer-by smiled and said, “I’ve never felt so safe on Capitol Hwy.” I have a hunch this feeling is here to stay and that this corridor, from Barbur Blvd, through Multnomah Village to Hillsdale, is on the cusp of becoming an inviting destination for strollers and cyclists.
— Lisa Caballero, lisacaballero853@gmail.com
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