Rose Quarter to Gorge Trail Organization - the Missing Link Multiple Funding Opportunities

The Rose Quarter to Gorge Trail can complete the missing link of the region’s multi-modal transportation system while serving millions of city commuters and regional recreation users. The RQGT project will consist of off-street pathways for bicyclists and pedestrians and maximize the efficiency of existing streets, arteries, and transit facilities. The RQGT will provide a non-car oriented healthy experience through stunning greenways along the south bank of the Columbia River within the Nationally designated Historic Columbia River Highway Scenic Byway.

The newly formed Rose Quarter to Gorge Trail Organization (RQGTO) will continue to lead the effort to gain support for funding and developing the multi-phased 30-mile bike and pedestrian corridor during the current drastic climate-changing events.

The first phase of the Trail project is between the Peace Memorial Park and NE 33^rd Street, which is a part of Sullivan’s Gulch Trail and has no encumbrance with Union Pacific Railroad. It is the most crucial segment of the Trail in the heart of central Portland, with eight bridge crossings, two of which are bicycle/pedestrian crossings only.

The former Sullivan’s Gulch Trail Committee has completed some monumental tasks by establishing the SGT in the Regional Transportation Plan, the updated Regional Trails and Greenway System, the Portland bicycle Master Plan, Portland Transportation System Plan, Portland’s Comprehensive Plan and Sullivan’s Gulch Trail Concept Plan. The RQGT Organization needs much greater government support to secure funding from multiple sources of new funding opportunities, such as: