[August 14, 2024]
Contributed by SWTrails
A crowd of neighbors met with twelve District 4 City Council candidates earlier this month for a short hike hosted by SWTrails and Oregon Walks. The focus of the gathering was the Red Electric Regional Trail, a proposed 17 mile multi-use path which would run from downtown Portland to Garden Home.
As they say though, people came for the trail, but stayed for the schmoozing with candidates.
The day began with an introduction and welcome by Sara Westersund, of Oregon Walks, followed by a presentation about the Red Electric Trail by Don Baack, founder of SWTrails. Both organizations promote walking, and the purpose of the event was to engage candidates with the issues that make walking a challenge in southwest Portland. District 4 includes the entire west side of the Willamette, as well as a portion of southeast Portland, so this was an opportunity to discuss local issues with some of the candidates who might not be familiar with them.
Area residents are well aware that it can be difficult and dangerous to walk through SW because so many of our busy streets don’t have sidewalks. As Baack pointed out, we have 280 miles of streets, but only 70 miles of them have a sidewalk. To put it another way, only 25% of our streets, including the biggest ones—arterials and collectors like Taylors Ferry Rd, Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy and Barbur Blvd—have a safe place for people to walk.
One of those roads, Barbur Blvd, is a particular problem because it creates a barrier between Hillsdale and neighborhoods to the east, like Johns Landing and Lair Hill. And that’s where the Red Electric Trail comes in.
Baack explained that SWTrails is trying to complete the easternmost leg of the Red Electric, which would include a bike route down Parkhill Drive into George Himes Park, and a new pedestrian link between that path and the existing SWTrails #3. This new Red Electric route would provide a safe connection, under Barbur's Newbury bridge and along Slavin Rd, to the riverfront and downtown. The idea is to include building this segment of the trail when the state replaces the 100-year-old Vermont and Newbury bridges, perhaps as part of next year’s upcoming state transportation bill.
Baack later led the group to the trailhead at George Himes Park where the descent to the Barbur bridge would begin.
And the reason for our paucity of sidewalks and reliance on trails? Southwest Portland does not have a formal stormwater system. We don’t have pipes in the roads to convey runoff to a treatment facility, like the Big Pipe, for example. Our stormwater drains to streams, in the ditches at the side of so many roads in SW Portland. Without pipes, the fast stormwater flows created by curbs don’t have a place to drain, and so the city has often allowed new buildings to go in without requiring developers to build a curbed place for people to walk.
Now that is a problem that needs solving, and hopefully a few of our city council candidates will be up to the task.
To learn more about the Red Electric Regional Trail, see the SWTrails website: SWTrails.org
What other things about Hillsdale and SW Portland is it important for District 4 city council candidates to know? Let us know.