Gateway Green

Each year in East Portland, more than 65 million people whiz right by Portland’s newest urban bike park in cars and trains.

It’s a thin, 25-acre island of trees and meadows that undulates in the center of eleven lanes of traffic, four entrance and exit ramps, the TriMet Red line, Union Pacific freight train tracks, and the I-205 multi-use path. With so much transit happening around it, you’d think the land that’s now known as Gateway Green would be useless.

But visit the park and you’ll immediately realize it’s a treasure. This is because the site was reimagined with the help of a nearly twenty-year effort that began with two community members who saw the opportunity to reuse a piece of the "right-of-way" land to make East Portland better. Interest in the site touched so many different agencies that the Oregon Governor's office got involved to help smooth the way for the project's success.

Read the whole story on our blog

Gateway Green is a surprisingly nice place to ride off road, and once you get going, noise from the cars and trains just fades into the background. The project is an important step towards providing more space in Portland for people to ride, though more space is still needed.

The park joins a new wave of urban cycling parks like the I-5 Colonnade and Duthie Hill Mountain Bike Parks in Seattle, J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Family Foundation Bike Park in Boise, Highbridge Park in New York City, and Valmont Bike Park in Boulder. But Gateway Green and the I-5 Colonnade are unique among these examples for their adaptive reuse qualities. Adaptive reuse is when an existing place is redeveloped for a purpose other than which it was originally built or designed for.

Today, heading northbound on I-205, drivers can quickly glance right to view Ted’s Traverse and Linda’s Line, unlikely urban singletrack trails named for the community leaders who got the whole project started. They envisioned a new place for park-deficient East Portland, and an economic driver for the re-imagining of adjacent Gateway District.

The first phase of Gateway Green opened at the end of 2020. Read about Gateway Green in The Oregonian, Willamette Week, and DJC Oregon.

The 2010 creation of the Friends of Gateway Green (FOGG) jump-started design work after nearly ten years of organizing, planning and negotiating. Robinson and Gilbert began the group and since that time it’s been a primary driver of the project and a key partner of Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) in their work developing the site.

By 2012,  FoGG began serious fundraising by partnering with Oregon’s Kitchen Table, a community fundraising group.

“...in Oregon’s first major civic crowdfunding effort, 756 people contributed to the project, raising nearly $124,000 (toward a goal of $100,000).” - Oregon Solutions

The money was used to hire David Evans and Associates, GreenWorks, and the International Mountain Biking Association to continue design work on the park. As part of this phase, GreenWorks created graphics to help project boosters generate enthusiasm for the project.

“They entrusted us to execute the vision with them.” GreenWorks Landscape Architect and Project Manager for Gateway Green, Ben Johnson said. “We came, we listened, and came up with a design that worked based on what the community had already figured out.” GreenWorks was hired to improve habitat and access to the site, in partnership with PP&R and FoGG.

FoGG continued to raise money and build momentum for the park’s development and PP&R completed a feasibility study of the project in 2015. With nearly ten years of work completed to this point, it was time for an experiment.

In 2017, to test the viability of Gateway Green, PP&R and FoGG directed the first phase of Gateway Green’s development with The Dirt Lab: improved singletrack trails, a bike skills area, and a cement pump track. The Dirt Lab was built by volunteers and staff organized by the Northwest Trail Alliance (NWTA) and the Community Cycling Center. They continue to maintain the park today. “NWTA, in collaboration with the Portland Parks and Recreation and Friends of Gateway Green, worked for 10 years to design and implement the vision for Gateway Green,” the Northwest Trail Alliance says on their website “Each year, more than 150 volunteers contribute over 750 hours of time to build and maintain the trails and bike skills area known as Dirt Lab.”

Dirt Lab was a hit. The new bike specific facilities gained local and national attention and proved Gilbert and Robinson’s idea was wildly popular. This popularity proved people would ride at Gateway Green when given the access. The success led to the continuation of the project and $5.75 million for the next phase of improvements, $1 million as a Nature in Neighborhoods grant from Metro, and $4.75 million from PP&R.

Phase two was when contributions from GreenWorks made the most impact. Using the discipline of landscape architecture, we worked to balance competing interests in the park with regulations and safety considerations, and to actively listen and act according to the work that had already been done at the park. This listening was done through a series of public meetings where community members were invited to share their thoughts on the future of Gateway Green and, later in the process, review proposed designs.

Improvements to the park in phase two included:

  • Enhanced off-road bike facilities (constructed by others)

  • Development of a multi‐use Trail and walking trails

  • An adaptive cycling course

  • Creation of an Entry Plaza

  • Creation of a nature play area

  • Grading and earthwork to meet ADA regulations and other trail needs

  • Installation of utilities

  • Stormwater management

  • Habitat restoration and plantings

“Throughout the process, the crux of the design challenge has been to create a plan that balances active and passive uses along with innovative urban habitat restoration,” GreenWorks Senior Project Manager and Landscape Architect Ben Johnson said. A major challenge was fitting “the spine,” the multi-use path through the heart of the park, between the gravity lines while maintaining suitable grade changes along Gateway Green’s steep south side. GreenWorks principal Gill Williams, Kelly Stoecklein, and Landscape Architect Matthew Crampton also made significant contributions to the project.

Excitingly, the project incorporated a dedicated adaptive cycling track to provide a place for differently-abled riders to use Gateway Green. The park has an ADA accessible spine, linking riders of all abilities to amenities the entire length of the park, but the gravity lines and skills park are not accessible. The adaptive cycling track, at the north end of the park, was designed with the proper space, slope, sightlines, and obstacles for hand bikes, wheelchair bikes, and trike bikes. The adaptive track at Gateway Green is a small step toward providing more adaptive cycling access to local riders, but it is also the first dedicated adaptive track in Multnomah County.

The following groups have been involved in the development of Gateway Green:

Government

  • City of Portland

  • City of Maywood Park

  • Governor’s Economic Revitalization Team

  • East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District

  • Metro

  • Multnomah County

  • Oregon Department of Transportation, Region 1

  • Oregon Solutions

  • Oregon Parks and Recreation Department

  • Portland Bureau of Parks and Recreation

  • Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability

  • Portland Bureau of Transportation

  • Portland Mayor’s Office

  • TriMet

Private

  • GreenWorks

  • PBS Engineering & Environmental

  • 3J Consulting

  • Morgan Holen & Associates

  • Geotechnics

  • Environmental Management Systems

  • C2 Recreation

  • Sparks + Sullivan

  • Raimore Construction

  • Miller Factors

  • Sasquatch Trails

  • Chris King Precision Components

  • David Evans and Associates

  • SERA Architects

  • The Bike Gallery

  • The Lumberyard

Nonprofit Organizations

  • Friends of Gateway Green

  • Central Northeast Neighbors

  • Community Cycling Center

  • Eastminster Presbyterian Church

  • International Mountain Biking Association

  • Mt. Hood Community College

  • Northwest Trail Alliance

  • Oregon Sports Authority

  • Travel Oregon

Did we miss an important detail or get something wrong? Send us an email here to let us know.

Minto Island Bicycle & Pedestrian Bridge

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The City of Salem and Salem's Urban Renewal Agency have been working toward a community vision of connecting three major urban parks and more than twenty miles of trails via two pedestrian bridges over the Willamette River.

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“The bridge and trail and efforts to pursue funding for the acquisition of Minto Island are consistent with the Willamette River Legacy Program. The program aims to improve river access, expand parks in the Willamette Greenway, and build upon efforts to enhance this former industrial site for passive recreation, wildlife viewing, and habitat restoration.” - The City of Salem

Part of this goal was realized with the renovation of the historic Union Street Railroad Bridge connecting West Salem’s Wallace Marine Park with downtown’s Riverfront Park. Completion of the Minto Island Bicycle and Pedestrian Bridge and adjoining multi-modal trail is the last critical link. For the design and permitting, the City of Salem hired OBEC Consulting Engineers with GreenWorks to complete the bridge design, perform needed studies, and apply for permits.

The detailed design work includes services that integrate context appropriate safe infrastructure for pedestrians, bicycles, and other trail users.

Conceptual Visualizations by GreenWorks

The Confluence Project - Cape Disappointment

Cape Disappointment (formerly Ft. Canby State Park) has a vibrant history, including native peoples, explorers, US military and most recently state parks. The 1800 acre Washington State Park at the mouth of the Columbia River contains over two-hundred campsites, a boat ramp, day use areas, interpretive center and many historic coastal fortification structures. The environment is very dynamic, with coastal erosion threatening approximately ninety of the existing campsites. GreenWorks led a multi-disciplinary team in developing a 20 year Master Plan for the park, identifying new visitor service centers, administrative headquarters, maintenance facilities, multi-use trail network, interpretive facilities and restoration areas. In addition, GreenWorks oversaw the preparation of a Draft and Final Environmental Impact Statement for the project.

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Canemah Bluff

Canemah Bluff is a 300-acre natural area owned and maintained by Metro within Oregon City. GreenWorks worked with Metro to develop public access to the sensitive oak savannah and woodland, which included improving hiking & walking trails, new boardwalk, foot-bridge, and scenic overlook.

During the Public Involvement phase, GreenWorks helped engage the community and gain support from a highly motivated neighborhood group. We prepared a design that reflected both Metro’s and the neighborhood’s goals for minimal impact to natural resources, yet provided for a safe place for users to enjoy the natural area. GreenWorks produced graphic presentation materials that helped convey the design so both the client and community could fully understand and appreciate what the end product would look like once built.

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Fairview Woods Park

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Fairview Woods Park is a renovation of an existing open space to a neighborhood Park and an example of where we successfully used a sustainability filter to improve park conditions and facilities. Some trails and interpretation existed at the park but graffiti, inappropriate park use and gunfire were common in the park and neighbors were concerned about safety. GreenWorks and SWCA environmental developed a conceptual plan and construction documents to address park safety and upgrade facilities to meet neighborhood recreation needs and provide access to wetland and riparian areas. We also addressed creek and wetland protection and sustainability on site by including native plant community restoration, vegetation management to provide visual corridors, minimal tree removal, use of downed woody debris for interpretive and plaza features, wetland trail improvements, trail decommissioning, minimized parking including ADA space, and upgraded trails to meet ADA standards.

Cape Horn Trail

Cape Horn Trail is an eight-mile trail in Skamania County located twenty-six miles east of Vancouver, WA. GreenWorks is providing services for the US Forest Service for improvements to an existing trail, which has two at grade crossings where hikers and horseback riders traverse the heavily traveled State Route 14. To improve safety for trail users, the Forest Service and WSDOT are constructing pedestrian underpass tunnels at these two crossings. GreenWorks developed schematic designs for the tunnel entrances and provided construction design drawings for the tunnel fascias, which include stonewall construction, custom metal guardrail fencing design and planting design around the entrances. The design of the tunnel fascias incorporate locally quarried Columbia River Basalt to form walls that echo other examples of historic basalt stone work in the Columbia Gorge.

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Gresham - Springwater Trail Spur

GreenWorks assisted the City of Gresham with the design of the Springwater Spur Trail project, part of the Phase One of the Main City Park Master Plan. The trail completed a significant connection between the existing Springwater Trail and Downtown Gresham through the popular 21.6-acre Main City Park. GreenWorks helped to ensure the design met the provisions of the grants and funding requirements by OPRD, ODOT and Metro. The Spur was designed as an ADA accessible, multi-use trail for pedestrians, bicycles, service and emergency vehicles. The design of the Springwater Trail Spur supports the City’s goals for sustainability by incorporating stormwater quality facilities to treat trail run-off and existing parking lot facilities that were formerly untreated. Associated features of the project include gateway design elements, landscaping, model stormwater management facilities, irrigation, lighting and trail signage. Finally, the Springwater Trail Spur created a sense of place by incorporating a new trailhead and prominent gateway feature at the south end of the trail where it abuts the Springwater Trail.

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Rock Creek Greenway

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Hillsboro Parks and Recreation contracted with GreenWorks and an interdisciplinary team to evaluate opportunities and constraints and propose recommendations for a 2500 foot section of Rock Creek.

Project goals included reconnecting the creek to its floodplain, enhancing floodplain fish and wildlife habitat, and providing passive recreation opportunities for the greenway.

GreenWorks designed a concept plan including new stormwater treatment facilities between adjacent developments and the riparian corridor, a backwater habitat, overall vegetation management strategies, trails, overlooks, and a pedestrian bridge crossing.

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a meadow around rock creek greenway with new nurse logs on a sunny day
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