A Metro committee voted this morning to recommend $141.6 million to a variety of transportation programs, plans, and projects. The funding comes from two federal grant programs and are known as Regional Flexible Funds.
Among the $49.3 million in capital projects recommended for funding was $8.7 million for the Historic Trolley Trail Bridge between Gladstone and Oregon City. This $10.4 million project will erect a new, carfree bridge over the Clackamas River and provide the missing link of the Trolley Trail. The bridge alignment will connect an on-street portion of the Trolley Trail route on Portland Avenue in Gladstone directly to the Clackamas River Trail and Trolley Trail path in Oregon City.
The Gladstone Trolley Trail Bridge originally opened in 1908 (see above) and served passenger and freight electric railway cars until 2014 when damage forced its closure. Back then, Metro and other regional trail advocates hoped the old bridge could be rebuilt and used for a rail-trail. But it was too heavily damaged and was removed from the river that same year.
The new crossing will give rollers and walkers a much more direct and safer route along the Trolley Trail. An existing carfree bridge just a half-mile to the east (at 82nd Dr) adds a mile to the route, and riding on McLoughlin Blvd (99E) is very stressful. Once the new bridge is in place it’s estimated to see 489,000 annual users and reduce 12 tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year. Combined with the existing 82nd Drive bridge, it will provide a carfree riverfront loop.
Metro’s Transportation Policy Advisory Committee (TPAC) voted to devote $8.7 million grant to the project, thus competing funding. Metro says final design and construction are likely to begin this year.
In the same vote, $92.3 million was awarded to a mix of region-wide transportation program investments like Safe Routes to School, Transit Oriented Development, and corridor planning. Of that, $51.7 million was awarded to bonding commitments for a suite of projects that includes: TriMet’s 82nd Avenue Transit Project, TriMet’s Tualatin Valley Highway Transit Project, Portland Streetcar Montgomery Park Extension, ODOT’s Sunrise-Gateway Corridor Project, and the County’s Earthquake Ready Burnside Bridge Project.
Other projects recommended for funding this morning include:
- NE 223rd Ave: NE Glisan to NE Marine Dr Safety Corridor Planning Multnomah County – $897,300
- NE Glisan St: 82nd Avenue Multimodal Safety and Access Portland – $7,577,698
- NW Division Street Complete Street: Gresham-Fairview Trail – Birdsdale Avenue Gresham – $4,067,495
- NE MLK Jr Blvd Safety and Access to Transit Portland – $4,879,517
- Cedar Mill Better Bus and Access to Transit Enhancements Washington County – $5,252,300
- Westside Trail Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge Over Highway 26 Tualatin Hills Parks & Recreation District – $5,000,000
- North Dakota Street (Fanno Creek) Bridge Replacement Tigard – $8,000,000
- Railroad Avenue Multiuse Path: 37th Avenue to Linwood Avenue Milwaukie – $2,707,217
- OR99E (McLoughlin Boulevard) 10th Street to tumwata village: Streetscapes Enhancements Project Development Oregon City – $2,232,341
From TPAC, the recommended projects will move to Metro’s Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation (JPACT) and then to Metro Council where they’ll be officially adopted later this year.
Stay tuned for more on each of these projects!