One of the last gaps on the Springwater Corridor Trail is moving closer to completion, with a construction project set to get underway this summer.
Metro's Parks and Nature Department acquired easements from the Oregon Pacific Railroad in 2010 to enable the completion of the trail from Southeast Umatilla Street to Southeast 13th Avenue in Portland's Sellwood neighborhood. Money from the Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program, Regional Flexible Funds and Portland development fees are paying for construction. That project should be completed by the end of the year.
Last year, the Metro Council approved an agreement with the railroad to allow for trail construction on another segment of the so-called Sellwood Gap, from Southeast 13th to 17th avenues. As a part of that $1 million agreement, the railroad tracks would be moved a few feet to the south to allow for a future trail to be built next to the railway. A timeline hasn't been established for trail construction from 13th to 17th avenues.
The Springwater Corridor is a 21-mile bike and pedestrian trail between OMSI in Portland and the community of Boring in Clackamas County. Its eastern segments are built on an abandoned railroad, but the segment from Sellwood to Portland is next to the Oregon Pacific line.
Much of the trail is managed by local parks departments, primarily Portland's Parks & Recreation Bureau.
Once the 13th to 17th segment is complete, only 400 feet – from Southeast 17th to 19th avenues in Sellwood – will remain as a gap in the trail. There are no plans at this point to improve the Southeast 17th Avenue crossing.