City will build new paved path into Kelley Point Park – BikePortland

One of my favorite cycling destinations is getting a big upgrade. Portland Parks and Recreation just announced that they are moving forward with the Kelley Point Park Trail Project, which will fill a gap in the bike path network and allow people to access the park without crossing N Lombard/N Marine Drive.

Kelley Point Park is a 105-acre oasis with a beach, wooded area, and large meadow at the confluence of the Columbia and Willamette Rivers. It’s also accessible from many north Portland neighborhoods via the carfree 40-Mile Loop, making it a perfect destination for all-ages cycling. But it could be better.

Currently a section of the 40-Mile Loop that leads into Kelley Point Park ends at N Marine Drive and requires you to cross the busy, high-speed freight route to access the park. Once inside the park, riders share the road with car users for the first few tenths of a mile before you’re able to hop on a paved bike path.

Many folks don’t realize it, but if you stay on the 40-Mile Loop path (named “Rivergate Trail” on Apple Maps) south of the Kelley Point Park entrance and go toward the Columbia Slough under N Lombard, you’ll come to the end of the paved path (red marks in map above). There’s room to enter the park there, but it’s dirt and has some rocks to get over. I typically go this way to avoid the Lombard/Marine Dr crossing.

This project will construct 1,400 feet of new, paved path that will connect to the existing path within the park. Parks says the path will be 10-feet wide with one-foot wide shoulders. According to a new map released by Parks, the path (circled in red above) will follow the road (unfortunate, but likely that alignment has less natural area impacts) for most of its length.

Funding for this $2.7 million project comes from a combination of $1.9 million in Regional Flexible Funds awarded by Metro back in 2022 and $800,000 in Parks System Development Charges.

If all goes according to plan, Parks will break ground on the project this coming spring and open the new path in late fall 2026.

Learn more at the project website.