Metro bankrolls Milwaukie projects

Millions to fund roads, trails and work on Lake Kellogg; Oregon City fares less well

By Patrick Sherman

The Clackamas Review, Mar 28, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009

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Milwaukie is set to receive $3.6 million from the Metro Transportation Improvement Program, to pay for local road projects. The city will also benefit from an additional $2 million grant awarded by the regional government to pay for preliminary engineering on a proposed light rail line linking Milwaukie to downtown Portland.

“Metro awards about $50 million to the 25 cities that we represent every two years,” said Metro Councilor Brian Newman. “There are always more requests than we have money available. We awarded $45 million this cycle, and there were a total of $132 million in requests.”

The largest single award, in the amount of $1.5 million, will pay for improvements to Harmony Road between 82nd Avenue and Highway 224.

“The long-term plan has always been to widen Harmony from three lanes to five lanes,” said Newman. “Also, the railroad will be elevated, so that it passes overhead. When a long freight train goes through that intersection, it really ties up traffic.”

The railroad is also contributing money to the project, along with other community partners.

The trolley trail – a pedestrian path linking Milwaukie and Oregon City along the route of disused rail line – will receive $1.1 million to complete construction on the final phase of the project.

“It used to carry passengers and freight back and forth between Oregon City and Portland,” Newman explained. “After it ceased operation, the alignment remained the property of a local utility. Metro purchased it five years ago with money from our greenspace bond, along with Clackamas Parks & Recreation.”

Engineering and design is already complete for the last stretch of the trail, which will run from north of Concord Street to Echo Glen, where it will link up to an existing trail in Gladstone.

In downtown Milwaukie, a $1 million grant will fund preliminary work related to the replacement of the Kellogg Bridge and the removal of the dam below, responsible for the formation of Kellogg Lake.

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