This 1,300-foot segment of the Albany-Corvallis multi-use path along Highway 20, near Independence Highway, was complete by August 2023.
The idea of a bike path connecting Albany and Corvallis has been around since the late Linda Modrell, then a Benton County commissioner, proposed it a generation ago. Now it looks like the potential costs will put an end to this idea, especially since two alternatives exist that cost much less.
On Tuesday the Benton County commissioners will review a consultants’ report recommending a route of this proposed path along Highway 20.
The report, by the Portland engineering firm Parametrix, lists numerous challenges the recommended alignment would face. Among the biggest is the likely cost: $38.3 million.
The report calls this number a “planning level estimate.” Once the project would actually be carried out, in maybe five or 10 years, you can expect the number to be higher, maybe twice as high.
And this $38 million is just for the three segments of the path — some five and a half miles — between Merloy Avenue near Corvallis and Rainwater Lane near Albany. It does not include the segment into Albany itself, which is proposed across private properties whose owners are opposed, and which envisions some reconstruction on the Lyon Street bridge.
The recommended alignment runs east along the highway, on the south side, until it gets to the Bonneville Power Administration easement. There it would require a bridge to the north side. The bridge would have a clearance of 17 feet 4 inches. The top of the structure would be 21 feet above the highway.
That crossing alone would cost around $11 million or more.
The City of Albany has sent Benton County a letter in support of completing the shared-use path connecting Albany with Corvallis.
But at a time when neither the state nor the city have money for street repairs let along big projects, nobody in his right mind would commit close to $40 million to a bike path.
There are cheaper alternatives.
One is acknowledging that bike riders can travel on Highway 20 as it is. In a couple of spots it takes a certain amount of trust in a protective providence to do so, but it can be and is being done. Maybe the placement of flexible delineators could provide at least an illusion of safety.
For biking from Albany to Corvallis, the other alternative is to ride south on Riverside Drive and then west on the off-highway path ODOT built along Highway 34 from Riverside to Corvallis. (Especially if Linn County can be induced to complete the widening of Riverside it started a few years ago.)
When Commissioner Modrell proposed the Albany-Corvallis bike path in 2004, her idea was to have the path follow the Union Pacific rail line. Years later, that approach foundered on the objection of farmers.
Now the projected costs have risen to the point where this venture has turned from a hopeful dream into a fantasy that is impractical to pursue. (hh)
This map of the preferred route of the Albany-Corvallis path is part of the agenda packet of the Benton County commissioners on Sept. 15.
Even if the project never finishes, I think we can all agree the priority is to hire lots of consultants and spends lots of money to endlessly study it.
Route it out Garden Ave off Hwy 20. Put a bike/pedestrian bridge across the river off the end of Strawberry Lane to connect to Riverside at Walnut roughly paralleling the power lines.
I would like to know how much money has been spent so far on consultants, planning meetings, etc. for this bike path.
If only mid-valley bicycle travel were a passion of OSU alum Jensen Huang …
You’re right, Hasso. It is impractical, at best!!! Stupid, at less than best. Today’s world is not the world of 2004 when the Benton County Commissioner proposed the path.
I can count on one hand the number of bicycle riders I see on Albany streets on any day. Most often none. Undoubtedly a path meant for the exclusive use of bicyclers would encourage more traffic, but even then, rainy winters would obviate such use. A bike path between these two cities is a truly absurd idea. On the other hand, I suppose we could forbid the use of automobiles.
Next thing you know….spend 40 million & then more potholes to fix….
Hasso, it is time to stop beating this drum.
What ya going to do about it? Snort beans?
I commute by bike to Corvallis 3-4 days a week from April-October. I use the Queen-Riverside-Hgwy 34 bike path route. I live nearer to south Albany so this route is more convenient. Biking along highway 20 would take more nerve & trust than I have.
Really wonderful bicycling in the Williamette valley.
I just returned from the September 15 meeting of the county commissioners and the consultants to this project. Apparently the county is on board with the high way 20 route.
Which brings us to the old joke “ why did the chicken cross the road?”
“ because it had 11+ million dollars in Odot tax money for a bridge”
Are you referring to the Benton County commissioners? I ask because I just read in the D-H (which is the same as the G-T, as I understand it, except for the masthead) that the Benton County Commissioners are all for the bike bath and consider that the progression is still going forward!! And, yes, on Highway 20. So, the money spent will probably surpass the money spent on the pink brick road, aka Water Street, in Albany. Funny how we never hear a word anymore from CARA and Albany Council (same people) about their pink brick road? Some of them must be up for re-election!!!!
Gee where should this be built if at all, 1. millions on a Benton County path that is half done and is not safe now, or 2. less for a Linn County path that is useable now and is much safer???
Regardless of where this money is coming from, there has to be a better place to spend it.