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Celebrating 20 years of continuous Southwest news coverage!
Volume No. 21, Issue No. 6
www.swportlandpost.com
Portland, Oregon
Metro Councilor
Bob Stacey
discusses Southwest
Corridor Plan
– Page 5
Complimentary
April 2013
New plan for regional ped/bike trail upsets Miles Place residents
SELLWOOD BRIDGE
By Lee Perlman
The Southwest Portland Post
There are parts of Southwest Port-
land where the prospect of getting a
new sidewalk with a curb, at public
expense, would have neighbors
jumping for joy. Those are the plans
for Southwest Miles Place, yet many
residents are distinctly unhappy.
Last year City of Portland and
Multnomah County planners deter-
mined that Miles Place should be part
of a regional trail for bicyclists and
pedestrians connecting downtown
Portland with Lake Oswego and
points south; they rejected alternate
routes along Southwest Macadam Av-
enue and along the Willamette Shore
rail right of way.
However, as County spokesperson
Mike Pullen, and City transportation
planner Mike McGee told a gathering
of residents last month, they now pro-
pose to install a sidewalk with curb on
the west side.
This will probably eliminate five
parking spaces on a street
where parking is at a pre-
mium. They also plan to
cut down a mature walnut
tree growing in the right
of way.
Currently Miles Place is
a substandard street, with-
out sidewalks. It works
largely due to low traffic
volumes; the City says
there are no more than
120 auto trips a day on the
west end, and residents
say that on the east dead
end the figure is closer to
five.
However, officials say
that when the regional trail
is complete, and the new
Sellwood Bridge opens,
the street will see as many
as 6,000 bikes a day, much
more than the current max-
imum daily volumes.
“ P e d e s t r i a n s n e e d a Residents who live along Southwest Miles Place are concerned that a regional trail carrying 6,000 bicy-
dedicated pedestrian cor- clists per day is coming along with the new Sellwood Bridge. (Post photo by Lee Perlman)
ridor,” McGee said. “This
but all but one or two people said they
who come screaming through and yell
doesn’t meet everyone’s needs, but
didn’t
want
a
curb.
We’re
frustrated
at cars when they try to pull out.”
it’s the best fit.”
that
we
weren’t
heard
at
all.”
She
add-
Carl Larson of the Bicycle Trans-
In response one woman said, “You
ed,
“The
biggest
problem
is
bicyclists
said you couldn’t please everyone,
(Continued on Page 6)
Willamette Shore Trolley right-of-way future questioned by neighbors
By Lee Perlman
The Southwest Portland Post
During Metro Commissioner Bob
Stacey’s visit last month, the South
Portland Neighborhood Association
discussed the potential future of the
Willamette Shore Trolley right-of-way.
Once an active rail line of the Burl-
ington-Northern and Southern Pacific
railways, the Willamette Shore track
from Johns Landing to Lake Oswego
was abandoned until the 1980s.
At that point the right of way was re-
established – at some public effort and
expense and despite the resistance of
many adjacent property owners – and
was used by a non-profit corporation
for excursion rides.
In 2010, Portland and Lake Oswego
city planners pursued an extension of
the Portland Street Car along the Willa-
mette Shore route. However, in the face
of massive public opposition, a divided
Lake Oswego City Council abandoned
their support of the effort.
Last month Kerry Chipman, a South
Portland board member and Johns
Landing resident, suggested seeking
other uses for the right of way. Stacey
agreed, “There doesn’t appear to be a
strategy for a streetcar line. Lake Oswe-
go is not a willing partner, and without
that you don’t have an end destination.”
However, Stacey continued, “I don’t
want to give up on rail transit in that
corridor. I’m not confident we can
continue to preserve the right of way
without rail use.”
Board member Jim Gardner agreed. “I
was a Metro councilor when the right of
way was acquired,” he said.
According to Gardner, “There was a
crucial question of whether it would be
used for rail purposes or not. A trolley,
running intermittently, qualifies as a rail
purpose. It doesn’t take much to pre-
serve the right of way, but it does take
something. Someday it may be used.”
“And someday Santa Claus may vis-
it,” Chipman retorted. “Jim, I’m arguing
that we’re there. There’s no rail line
operating now. This is a pipe dream.”
In a separate interview, Anne
McLaughlin, a retired City planner, who
worked to re-establish the right-of-way,
told The Post, “The land in the corridor
wasn’t owned outright by [Burlington
Northern-Southern Pacific] when they
abandoned it.
“What they owned was an easement
for rail purposes, so if the rail line is
no longer operative, the easement no
longer exists, and the full ownership
reverts to the owner of the adjacent
property.
“There needs to be active rail use, not
just planning for some future rail use. A
lot of people would have preferred not
to have a rail use in that corridor, but to
have it still remain a public corridor for
use by peds and bikes. But that never
looked like a legal possibility, according
to the attorneys working on it.”
McLaughlin added that she could not
be sure if the easement’s legal status
remains the same today, and people
curious about the matter should seek a
current legal opinion.
Editor’s Note: According to Mary Fetsch,
TriMet media relations manager, “There are
rail tracks on the (Willamette Shore) align-
ment, and the consortium continues to improve
the track and operates passenger rail on these
tracks, therefore the easement rights are pre-
served. Ownership is a mixture of fee parcels
and rail easement. “
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The Southwest Portland Post
4207 SE Woodstock Blvd #509
Portland, OR 97206
A vintage trolley car travels between Portland and Lake Oswego near the Elk Rock Tunnel.
(File photo coutesy of Willamette Shore Trolley)