Mill Creek Corridor Pathway to Center The Dalles

By Tom Peterson

A project to build the first phase of the Mill Creek Greenway recently received top billing from the Oregon Department of Transportation and was funded to the tune of $2.62 million dollars. 

The project, submitted by Northern Wasco County Parks and Recreation Director Scott Baker, intends to do one thing:

Improve the pedestrian corridor so that kids and adults have a healthy and safe way of accessing local parks and other areas of our community.

It will also make The Dalles a more desirable place to live and visit.

What Got Funded

The project will build pedestrian paths along Mill Creek between Second Street to the east of Thompson Park to the bridge on Sixth Street next to Safeway. 

The project was in competition with 57 other applicants across the state, and it came out on top according to the Oregon Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee.

Northern Wasco County Parks and Recreation Director Scott Baker on Mill Creek just south of Second Street. Basalt cliffs like the one behind Scott necessitated a cantilevered design for a boardwalk that will eventually be built here in the Mill Creek Greenway.

“It’s vital to do what we can within the built environment,” Baker said on a tour of the site on Wednesday, June 9. “We have to make our parks system available to all residents.”

For instance, the Parks and Recreation is offering free swimming and swimming lessons this summer to families who need assistance. But that does no good if the kids can’t get to the pool and skate park safely. 

Breaking It Down

The Mill Creek Greenway has been on the books with the Columbia Gateway Urban Renewal in The Dalles for decades but has languished due to its size. 

It’s simply a very large and costly project.

Baker decided to break it down into phases, and thus focused on the stretch between Second and Sixth streets, which is the most difficult and thus expensive portion to build. 

Steep basalt walls to the west will require a portion of the path to be built on a cantilevered boardwalk that stretches from above the bridge on Third Street to just before the bridge at Sixth Street.

Here is a birds eye view of the path where it will intersect with Sixth Street near Safeway.

Money 

ODOT granted the $2.624 million with a matching grant from Urban Renewal of $300,532. North Wasco County Parks and Recreation chipped in $10,000. In other words, The Dalles will get the trail built for just 13 percent coming from local funding. 

The ODOT money comes from $15.5 million of available funds in the Oregon Community Paths Program - $7.2 million of which is state generated and $8.2 million comes from federal sources.

Baker said the local match was a great return on the investment. He pointed out that a full-time grant writer for the area would do much to leverage other additional state and federal funding for local projects if leaders were willing to fund such a position.

Timeline
Baker said the project, under grant guidelines, must be completed in the next three years.  ODOT will provide a project manager who will handle creating bid documents and awarding bids for the project. Baker said he will have some oversight in the work as it progresses. 

Mill Creek offers untapped beauty for pedestrians and bicyclists right in the center of The Dalles. A future Greenway between Second to Sixth streets will also include a pedestrian trail. Construction will be completed within the next 3 years.

Overall Health of the Community

“This is a great win for our community, and the first step towards developing a system of multi-use trails that will connect our downtown, parks and pool, and westside residential areas,” Baker told Judy Bankman in a recent press release.

Elijah Barajas crosses the pedestrian bridge behind Mama Jane’s Pancake House.

The Start of Something Bigger 

If funding and cooperation can be garnered, Baker envisions an additional phase of the trail crossing Second Street and providing a path to both Lewis & Clark Festival Park on Union Street and the Riverfront Trail. 

Future phases of the trail could also lead pedestrians further south. If funded, the Greenway path would continue to follow Mill Creek southwest of Sixth Street past condominiums as it winds along a former trailer park blacktop. It would continue under the existing pedestrian bridge that is accessible behind Mama’ Janes Pancake House and continue southwest.  Potentially, the trail could go as far as the bridge on Ninth Street and then link to Kramer Field and Cascade Square via bike paths on 8th Street. 

Don’t Underestimate The Power of Paths

Walking paths can have an immense impact on the social, economic, and equitable well-being of a community. Look at what Riverfront Trail has done for The Dalles, offering a place for all to exercise, fish, relax, socialize and draw additional business to the community.

Walking paths also help to identify a community. Who can say San Antonio without mentioning the Boardwalk? Or even Ashland Oregon - that community had the foresight to build out Lithia Park along Ashland Creek decades ago in the center of their town. It now draws a strong tourism trade anchored by the park and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.  

Walkability brings about physical, mental, economic and social and equitable improvements for a community according to a report by by Adele Peters on fastcompany.com 

Check out her story, 50 Reasons Why Everyone Should Want More Walkable Streets here.