Road construction projects will put a serious crimp in popular bike routes near the Sandy River and Columbia River Gorge for at least the next few months.
Last week Multnomah County announced that the Stark Street Bridge was in need of serious repairs. This bridge over the Sandy River is an important connection between Troutdale and the Historic Columbia River Highway (U.S. 30). About 12 miles south of the more well-known Sandy River Bridge, the Stark Street Bridge is one of very few crossings of the river between I-84 and Sandy (Lusted Rd bridge near Dodge Park being another one).
Multnomah County hasn’t released a firm date for re-opening, but they expect retaining wall repairs and other work to take at least several months.
Further complicating your Gorge cycling adventures in the months ahead is a closure of the Historic Highway west of Multnomah Falls. The Oregon Department of Transportation says they need to close the Historic Highway adjacent to Benson Lake to all users from this coming Tuesday, October 1st until Memorial Day (May 26th) of 2025. The closure is necessary to repair one of the viaducts.
The closure also applies to bicycle users. I followed up with ODOT to confirm. According to ODOT Public Information Officer Ryan McCrary, “There will be no bicycle access due to the nature of the construction on the Historic Columbia River Highway. Although we do not recommend it, I-84 is an alternative route for bicyclists during the closure.”
As one commenter reminded me below, there’s a parallel hiking trail that will remain open. So if you are up for a hike-a-bike, you could take that route for the 1/2 mile or so to get around the closure. Just don’t pedal your bike and you’ll be legal.
Thanks for reading.
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But the parallel hiking trail is open, so you could use that. Bikes are prohibited, but you could certainly walk your bike for the ~1/2 mile, right? I’ve endured worse…
ODOT should be recommending this as the bicycle detour.
I imagine they can’t do so officially for ADA reasons. It’s one thing I struggle with on some of the access laws is that it’s so all or nothing, if they can’t make a detour that is fully accessible it is not listed as a possible alternate.
Wow. So I-84 is considered ADA accessible? That’s mind boggling.
The ODOT answer is basically “tough shit”. They don’t care.
yep that would be a fine option for those who can manage the walk!
I did the 1/2 mile trail detour with my loaded bike a couple weeks ago. It sucked, but it honestly wasn’t much worse than the Eagle Creek staircase push.
Probably the most car-centric statement ever made!
I was riding out that way Sunday and was surprised to discover Sandy River Bridge was indeed closed but the walkway alongside it was still accessible so I crossed the river using that. Not sure if that was kosher or not. I’d imagine they’ll be closing that walkway when they begin work, maybe it will still remain accessible when they’re not actively doing construction (ie weekends)?