Update: slide show | U of P Engineering Students Present Trail Design Recommendations

Seven senior engineering students at the University of Portland took on designing sections of the North Portland Willamette Greenway for their senior project. They made their professional presentations to their professors, Drs. Male and Kennedy and other classmates April 19th. Some npGreenwayers were there too, as the students presented their research and design recommendations. The two sections they studied were the intersection of Waud Bluff Trail at the street level of Willamette Boulevard, and the North Portland Willamette Greenway Trail as it goes around the toe or bottom of Waud Bluff, near the rail road tracks.

The Waud Bluff Trail will provide access from North Portland neighborhoods to Swan Island and the future North Portland Willamette Greenway Trail. It is being designed by W & H Pacific, and construction is expected to begin later this summer, according to the PP&R project manager. The trail will follow an existing “made trail” down the bluff and cross the rail road tracks at the Swan Island level with a bridge. Design work shows a bus stop being moved at the top of the bluff to align with the new trail head. U of P students took design work further by coming up with some ideas for a pedestrian crossing at N Olin, N Harvard and N Willamette Boulevard.

The section of the North Portland Willamette Greenway Trail that goes around the bottom or toe of Waud Bluff up through the Baxter McCormick property, now owned by the University of Portland, was the second part of the student’s work. They tested soils, walked the future trail and recommend the trail to be cantilevered off the hillside above the tracks.

Thanks to all of the students, Jacilyn Hayden, Jessica Hamilton, Jordan Foster, Stephanie Turner, Eliot Sluyter, Alex Motz, Colton Coughlin and Megan Karner! npGreenway appreciates your work. And, a special thanks to professors Male and Kennedy for agreeing to offer their students this challenging project.