The design of the new Willamette Greenway Trail Bridge over Columbia Boulevard in north Portland was revealed by Portland Parks and Recreation at an open house late last month. New renderings show a structure that will span across the road with transparent fencing and lighting that will make the bridge safer to use at night.
Parks’ Bridge Over Columbia project was on hold for several years as the city ironed out some funding wrinkles. Now it’s full steam ahead and the new drawings give us our best view yet on what to expect.
This project, estimated to cost $11-$15 million, will build a half-mile of new paved path inside Chimney Park (just north of Pier Park). That path will connect to a new bridge that will span over Columbia Blvd on a gentle grade. After coming off the bridge, riders will continue on the new path, cross a Union Pacific Railroad track, and then continue northeast to the edge of the North Columbia Slough.
An existing bridge over the slough (owned by Metro) will eventually connect the new path to another future path that will wind two miles around the outside edge of Metro’s St Johns Prairie (a 244-acre former landfill). At the northern tip of the Prairie, Metro and their partners are already planning another new bridge that will ultimately connect to an existing (although heavily damaged and in need of repair) path that leads to Kelley Point Park.
Check out more of the open house materials below:
This project marks very exciting steps forward for the NP Greenway that will eventually connect the Eastbank Esplanade to Kelley Point Park. Parks expects to finish design next year and build the project in 2027-2028. For more information, see the project website.
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Anyone know the current status of the St. John’s Landfill and gas remediation? I’m not aware of any opening date yet.
I saw an update last month from an email newsletter sent out to the NP Greenway. It was sent by Rod Wojtanik/Metro:
I am skeptical that this bridge cannot support bikes and peds since they drive trucks over it daily, hopefully Metro can be pressured to give the public access to this public resource.
Nice, thanks. I’m assuming it’s this bridge. It’s mostly moot until the ped bridge is built, although there is technically access through the back side trail.
What’s with the air photos not aligning with the line drawing? That’s just sloppy.
Hi Jess. Not sure I understand what you are describing.
Look at the second diagram. The railroad tracks and overlay appear to be off by something like 50ft. I don’t think that moving a bunch of property lines and a private railroad are within the scope of this project?
But at least they have Spanish on there. I guess they are focused on the important things.
The super-imposed graphic image is at a different scale, roughly 2x, from the underlying air photo image. Where they are showing Columbia Blvd on the map is on top of the image a frontage road along the railroad tracks. The railroad alignment is off by about 1,000 feet.
Looks like the scale is also incorrect.
I also appreciate the effort to include our immigrant communities.
The zoom on the aerials doesn’t match the zoom on the schematic project diagrams that are overlayed on the aerials.
The aerial in the first map shows an area that is northwest of Colombia boulevard, but the diagram that overlays the aerial shows paths and structures that are on both sides of Columbia. There is a complete misalignment between the diagram and the image.
Are they relocating the Union Pacific tracks? The diagram certainly makes it look like they are.
Why is there no bike bridge over the railroad tracks? That is a major line from the UP intermodal yards.
Good question. Very big trains roll through there regularly. One can expect frequent trail blockages there.
Great to see, I love connections that are totally separated from vehicle traffic. Hopefully the rest of the N Portland greenway can get built soon.