The walkway from Linn Avenue opens within sight of the Dari Mart store across Knox Butte Road.
This may sound familiar: City planners and developers set aside a pedestrian connection to make walking easier. The path becomes a nuisance to the neighbors, and now the question is: Keep the path open for walkers or close it for the neighbors?
The Albany City Council has dealt with this question twice before, near South Albany High School and later adjacent to Sunrise School . Now it faces the case of a 10-foot-wide public right-of-way going south from Knox Butte Road through the Timber Linn Subdivision. (See the map at the bottom of this story.)
Last September some residents, who had already blocked one section of the walkway, asked the city council to keep the path closed.
This week the issue came back to the council. While some residents want to get rid of the walkway to prevent crime and vandalism, about an equal number want to keep it open, according to a staff memo to the council.
The city staff recommended against vacating the right-of-way, established when the subdivision was laid out because otherwise the blocks would have been more than 600 feet long.
“The walkway provides pedestrian access from the subdivision to commercial zones on the north side of Knox Butte Road,” city engineers told the council in a memo. “These pedestrian accesses are required as part of the Albany Development Code lot and block length standard.”
The council made no decision, but there was talk of scheduling a public hearing. If any of the neighbors petition for the right-of-way to be vacated — abandoned, in other words — a public hearing would be required.
This right-of-way has three sections. From Knox Butte to Linn Avenue it remains open and is used. From Linn to Willamette Avenue the neighbors blocked it on their own last year. And from Willamette Avenue south to the Rosewood Mobile Home Park, it has been closed or blocked for a long time, a neighbor told me last year.
The situation is complicated by conditions on Knox Butte. To get to the corner store, walkers using the path first have to cross a shallow ditch and then three lanes on Knox Butte, a county road, including a left-turn lane to Clover Ridge Road.
There is no crosswalk or signal, and on Tuesday afternoon the traffic was going by at highway speeds, as I noticed on a bike ride. You would not want to send your kid down that path to the store for an ice cream or a quart of milk.
The council has left the path issue hanging. I think the neighbors will keep the Willamette-Linn section of the right-of-way blocked unless the city forces them to open it up. (hh)
Looking toward Knox Butte Road through the 10-foot-wide walkway from Linn Avenue on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025.
Between Willamette and Linn avenues, the public right-of-way remained blocked by fences on Tuesday.
Monday’s council agenda included this map of the walkway layout.
If I lived out there, I’d remove that “blockage” so fast there head would spin!
Doubt it… smh
Right, sure you would.
Keep it open, this is PUBLIC land, not your private backyard. The public has the *right of way*. It’s literally in the name.
I live on the block and hope it remains closed. Summer months having to put out fires because cigarettes in dead grass. Winter months it turns into a muddy mess. City doesn’t take care of it.
If they want it open they should put sidewalks down the easements, sidewalk along side of knox butte, a bridge to cross the ditch, and a crosswalk to cross knob butte safely.
This may be the most dangerous section of road in Albany. To get to my house on Clover Ridge from the park I use the lights and crosswalk. From there it’s 100 yards of danger on the North Side of Knox Butte Road to Clover Ridge.
Literally three feet from the busy road with a sloping ditch boarder.
I approached the City multiple times during the Somerset 122 new home development and was told it is a Linn County issue.
The recent East Side plan for the future once again transfers responsibility to the County.
The County simply will not do a thing until someone gets killed or seriously injured.
SMH
I am a morning jogger and use this pathway numerous times. Crossing Knox Butte is not for the faint of heart. There is NO side walk for pedestrians on either side in that area. Traffic does not stop for pedestrians and cars don’t slow down or move over at all. That pathway is the best route for not getting hit. I understand the neighbors frustration as well about vandalism. I scared a tagger off before on an early morning run. As this area has grown traffic has increased, paricularly with the new apartment complexes. There is no threat of getting a ticket so drivers use Knox Butte as a freeway. Neighbors complain Albany just puts out a speed indicator. A sidewalk would be ideal but that costs money as do traffic signals. Long term planning for the growth in this area was a miss. The round abouts are a nightmare up the road as well. The trees block a person’s view. School bus didn’t even stop for me when I was in the crosswalk. It’s a mess.
Not that this will get published because whatever reason Hasso-You have of cherry picking your responses…. Michelle I applaud your comment 100%. It comes down to what the city council says about profit versus safety. Albany won’t spend the money because they put profit over safety every time. Growth over actual residents that pay taxes. Growth over sustainable infrastructure.
it’s NOT Paved
If the city puts in walkways
They should be open for all to use
This should include both sides of the canal that runs from the old Safeway all the way to the river
I don’t think that the city has a. choice, it comes down to safety. The city needs to improve access
That pathway has been there for more than 40 years!! Leave it as it is!! Looking at the pictures i see both sides have fences so not exactly sure how having the walk way should bother anyone.. the traffic on Knox Butte Road isnt too much different than it was 20+years ago lol! I would think that after so many years it would become permanent pathway ..
we should close 6th st. and commercial st. if ya have a problem with something, shut it down.