Three bicycles rest against poles at the head of a rough but walkable trail. The Waud Bluff trail, more an idea today than anything concrete, is something stakeholders hope will eventually provide a vital connection between the neighborhood above and the Willamette Greenway Project below. 

Just south of the University of Portland from Willamette Boulevard, the overgrown path winds its way down the bluff, across the Union Pacific railroad tracks at the base, and over to the industrial lands of Swan Island. Small oases of trees dot the industrial sites from the south past the university to the north. Nearby the massive dry docks of Swan Island loom as a memory of the era when the workers of the Kaiser Yards built and launched over a thousand liberty and victory ships for the Allies of World War II.

"I want my grandchildren to appreciate the river," says npGREENWAY activist Paul Maresh. "I want everyone’s grandchildren to appreciate the river. I want signs that say 'this was ruined' so we don’t do that again." Maresh and his group envision a continuous line of bike tracks and walking paths that will connect North Portland residents from Kelley Point Park on the Columbia River down to the Steel Bridge and the Eastbank Esplanade. 

We start descending close to where Lewis and Clark are said to have turned back on their survey of the Willamette River. Not far from us, a statue stands on the university campus to commemorate the event. At the sides of the path, bits of steel and an old auto wheelbase stick up from a layer of weeds atop an ancient bed of concrete. The trail follows the course of the old road that served a clutch of houseboats in the inlet that once flowed here.  

"This was all a swamp when I was a kid," says Maresh as we stare out at the land east of Basin Avenue, now filled with family-wage employers like UPS and Daimler Trucks. "You used to see 50 to 60 geese. There were huge rafts of birds!"

Industry, transport, and nature have all had a difficult past in this area and that uneasy relationship continues today as interests from all sides fight for the right balance being hammered out in the city’s river plan.

"I see [the Waud Bluff trail] as a neighborhood connection and a key piece of the North Portland greenway because of the topography of the bluff," Francie Royce, co-chair of npGREENWAY said later in a phone interview.

About halfway down the trail a large sign attached to a section of pink ribbon reads, "Trail closed due to safety precautions." The city recently closed what exists of the Waud Bluff trail through the month of January while it completes a section of the massive sewer pipe project. A wide area at the bottom of the hill is filled with piping, construction equipment and a large crane in anticipation of boring through the bluff.

We stand aside for a couple hikers and cyclists as they ignore the sign’s warnings and head down. The trail may be rough, but it is certainly in use.  Although the work includes funds for a pedestrian overpass to eventually span the tracks, Maresh says it will have a bike ladder and stairs at the bottom rather than a sloped ramp.

"The vision we have for the trail is a link to the island for transit access and job access," Lenny Anderson of the Swan Island Transportation Management Association, later explained. Anderson was one of the authors for the trail’s grant. "A student can walk down the hill from the University of Portland and get on the 85 Swan Island Express and be at the Rose Quarter in 12 minutes. You can’t do that on the 44, for instance, or the 35."

The posted warning can be seen as a symptom of the slow progress and shallow vision of bureaucracy.  Boosters of the North Portland greenway trail complain they have endured for too many years. Delays and budget cuts have plagued the idea of a working trail along the east shore of the North Reach. Though adopted by the city council in 1979 and updated in 1987, the greenway along this part of the Willamette River has a long way to go.  

Sliding past the sign, we cross the tracks and follow them north where a line of poplars hugs the riverbank.  The remains of several Pabst Blue Ribbon tallboys lie at our feet. Clearly someone has been enjoying the scenery, but Maresh and the npGREENWAY boosters want more — not just to enjoy the natural sights, but also to get around more easily.

"The trail gets put off on the parks department," says Maresh. "We see it as transportation and not recreation." At best, a completed Willamette Greenway may be as far away as 20 years, he adds. "I’m finding it frustrating that there is a strong public will for it, but it keeps getting put on the back burner."

Members of the surrounding neighborhood associations vented similar frustrations Dec. 16 at an open house hosted by Mayor Sam Adams and Commissioner Amanda Fritz. "We should not spend tax dollars on placating industrial interests not shared by wider Portland," testified Barbara Quinn, chair of Friends of Cathedral Park.

"Why did the Willamette Greenway plan fail?" asked Edward Jones of the Linton Neighborhood Association. "We’re worse off than we were when we started 20 years ago."

A public hearing will be held on the subject of the city’s river plan, including the future of the trail network on Jan. 28, 2010, at 2 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, City Hall, 1221 SW 4th Ave., Portland.