A contractor hired by the Oregon Department of Transportation to do work on the McLoughlin Viaduct in southeast Portland near the Ross Island Bridge has blocked the Springwater Corridor path several times. That’s not a big deal, except that the community was given zero notice of the project. And the project began with ODOT not following the proper permitting and community notification procedures.
Several BikePortlanders have reached out wondering what’s going on. Here’s the deal…
After receiving photos and messages about the path blockage from a few of you, I reached out to Portland Parks & Recreation to ask what was going on. The Springwater path is a crucial link in our transportation network. For bicycle riders it’s just as important (if not more so) as Highway 99E that runs adjacent to it. So when I saw photos of a large crane and piles of fencing materials blocking the entire paved path, I wondered why I wasn’t notified about the closure. Whenever there’s even the slightest impact to the Springwater path due a construction project, Parks has a standard procedure for permitting, public notification, and detours. Ironically, I often get these closure notices and don’t even share them because the impacts are so minor. But this is not a minor impact…