Who exactly has jurisdiction over a specific piece of bike path on the Willamette River? Downtown Portland resident Amy C. is learning the hard way that no one seems to know who’s in charge of this popular piece of public right-of-way.
On July 18th, Amy was riding her bike northbound on the Willamette River Greenway just south of the Tesla dealership and north of Cottonwood Bay Park. She told me she recalls watching a group of bike riders coming toward her, “And then my bike literally flew up in the air and slammed into a lamppost.”
Amy had run over a series of severe bumps and cracks in the pavement. She hit her head (“I saw stars after I fell,” she recalled) and got a few bruises on her shoulder, but luckily her bike and helmet took the brunt of the collision. Unfortunately, it wasn’t just any bike. Amy, who moved to Portland in 2020 and uses her bike as a volunteer for Food Not Bombs, spent years searching for her dream bike: A 1999 mixte made by Georgena Terry (a legendary builder known for making bikes that fit women’s bodies).
“Every agency was blaming a different agency or saying it was a responsibility of a different agency. I was really pissed. I was like, there are these hazards here and nobody’s responsible for them?”
The bike’s frame crumpled upon impact and is now damaged beyond repair. “I waited for this bike for 22 years and I had it two months and it was demolished,” Amy shared with me last week.
The day after the crash, Amy started researching the bumps. She called the city and told them what happened and she warned them more people would crash until the bumps get fixed. In addition to smoother pavement, she thinks a larger sign is needed. Currently, there’s only one warning sign (see below) that tells people about the bumps. It’s small and is only posted in one direction — not the direction Amy was riding. “I just wanted ample warning for people so it didn’t happen anybody else.”
Amy immediately got the runaround.
Since the path is a major bike route listed on city maps, she started with the Portland Bureau of Transportation. But they said the path was a Parks & Recreation responsibility. So Amy called the Parks bureau. They told her it was private property and she’d have to contact the owner of the adjacent building.
“Every agency was blaming a different agency or saying it was a responsibility of a different agency. I was really pissed. I was like, there are these hazards here and nobody’s responsible for them?”
On July 26th Amy filed a claim with the City of Portland Bureau of Revenue and Financial Services. About one month later, she got a response from Senior Claims Analyst Rosalia Radich. It was denied. In the response letter, Radich wrote:
“We regret to let you know that we are denying your claim. We understand that what you experienced was very difficult and we take claims such as yours very seriously. Every claim is investigated before finalizing our decision. According to our information, the area where the tree roots are located is not owned or maintained by the City of Portland but is, instead, maintained by the private property owner of the adjacent building.”
Radich gave Amy the contact information of the building’s property manager, Hannah Knutson, who works for Jones Lang LaSalle (the building is owned by Vancouver, British Columbia-based Clarity Ventures). Amy spoke to Knutson on the phone about replacing her bike and the initial conversation was very encouraging. Then Knutson ghosted her.
With so many dead-ends and the bumps still there, Amy turned to BikePortland.
I’m familiar with this location because I’ve heard of others crashing here over the years. In 2018, a BikePortland subscriber even shared a post about it. “Can we do anything about the pavement breaks and bumps on the Willamette Greenway Trail?… It’s dangerous,” he wrote.
Chris Thomas, a lawyer with Thomas, Coon, Newton & Frost (a BikePortland advertiser) who specializes in bicycle law, was also aware of the location. “I know at least a couple of people who’ve been hurt there,” he told me in a phone call last week. He said he was “surprised” the City of Portland said it was a private property owner’s responsible. According to Thomas the jurisdiction question is important because a different set of laws applies if the responsible party is a public or private entity. Regardless, Thomas said, “I think it needs to be looked at careful. There shouldn’t be ambiguity. Confusion about who is responsible may be contributing to the bad conditions.”
It’s relatively common for the city to have a public right-of-way easement across private property. In fact, we’ve dealt with access issues several times over the years on this same path. In 2016, a condominium company near the Steel Bridge closed a gate on the path to keep people out and the city forced them to re-open it. And in 2015, business owners in Riverplace tried to prevent bike riders from using a section of the path.
Both Thomas and myself have pending inquiries with Portland Parks & Recreation about who exactly is responsible for the paths and the bumps that have hurt multiple people and have destroyed at least one beloved bicycle.
Even though the City of Portland Financial Services Bureau denied Amy’s claim and said it was between her and the property owner, Parks makes it seem like it might not be so cut-and-dry. Thomas first contacted someone at Parks about it on September 1st. He and I have both yet to receive any clarity on the issue. Last week, Parks spokesperson Mark Ross shared via email that, “This will require some analysis of various property ownership and responsibilities/easements.”
We still haven’t heard back.
Meanwhile, Amy remains frustrated and sad to have lost her dream bike, which she estimates would cost about $5,000 to replace with something custom that fits her as well. She feels like, even if jurisdiction is murky, something should be done sooner rather than later.
“If it’s a greenway, even if it’s private property, whoever establishes greenways should be paying attention to the condition of their greenways and enforcing safety measures along the way. I just don’t want anybody else to get hurt.”
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The Alderwood Trail on the Eastside has the same problem.
I was going to say the same thing! The section on the North side of Alderwood is pretty darn bumpy. At least the ones in the story here are painted. But overall, this problem does not keep me off of these paths the way I completely avoid I205 and the bike and auto lanes on NE 33rd near Marine Drive.
I feel like I’m becoming a serial commenter lately. But thanks for covering this Jonathan! I’m super bummed that the poor maintenance on the Willamette Greenway is STILL hurting people and damaging their bikes. It’s been a problem for as long as I can recall. I think my first injury on this stretch due to the roots was in about 2002. Very similar to what Amy went through but thankfully my bike emerged with only minor damage at the time (broken spoke I think and the wheel needed to be re-trued, but 20 years is a long time and my memory has never been great). Since the Sellwood Bridge has been replaced, I usually cross to the East Side to avoid this poor maintenance. That or deal with the speeding autos (who have trouble maintaining their lanes for some reason), poorly maintained bike lanes (gravel, glass and blackberry brambles), and hills on Barbur or Terwilliger.
Similar to what you’re reporting here, I recall being told at some point 15-20 years ago that the reason this area was so poorly maintained was because the property owners are responsible for it and they’ve got no incentive to do beyond the bare minimum. Someone also told me that they’re not even the ones that paint the roots as a warning. Some kind samaritan does that. I think a few lawsuits and/or pressure from the city might change their minds. It’s a shame that nobody has put in a properly paved trail here at any point that would be resistant to this kind of root encroachment.
Property owners responsible for maintenance arent allowed to mess with the roots — this is one of the specific reasons the path has so many problems with them
Another reminder that PBOT doesn’t own all the public rights of way, that there is still a lot of ambiguity in ownership out there. I seem to remember Sam Jackson to OHSU as being privately owned and parts of Airport Road are owned by the Port of Portland, not to mention all the private cul-de-sacs, the railroad rights of way, and ODOT highways. We’d all like everything to be straight forward and all that, but alas that’s not really the way that the world works.
It looks like they need to make the ‘Rough Trail Ahead, Please Walk Bikes’ sign bigger. I wonder if that is enough to clear the owner of responsibility.
The second concern is that if its privately owned and maintained, is there a risk that it could be closed down.
I wish they would paint it large and neon orange on the trails.
I don’t even remember seeing a sign there. The roots are circled, but there’s really no way to avoid all of them.
Its crazy that Portland would be so lax about this. Even if they do not own it, they are directing people to use these routes as a safe alternative to riding on roads. If PP&R and PBOT knew about thee dangerous but could not address tehm because they do not own them, they should have closed the route (see Esplanade) until it was made safe.
I hope Amy recovers quickly. I recommend contacting a frame builder to see about getting that frame repaired. I had a custom fork built to keep a bike I love on the road- I used Mark Simmons when he was at Norther Cycles. A quick search pulls up Bantam- I don’t have any experience with them, but they post prices which is helpful:
http://www.bantambicycles.com/repairs-and-retrofits
The Peninsula Crossing trail has been heaved in places by Black Cottonwood roots, and the trail through Kelly Point Park. The fix is to cut the root, intall root barrier and repair the asphalt- pretty basic maintenance. I hope PBOT can step up and just fix the trails.
Thanks. I did make calls inquiring about frame repair. Got quotes from about $1000 to $3000 including paint and rebuilding the bike and 1.5-2 year waiting time.
I’m just using a different bike right now.
I tend to ride on Moody and Landing, both low stress streets just to avoid the greenway. Then again, I can’t imagine riding with a trailer on the path on Moody being easy.
I too crashed there decades ago. I was hustling south and hit a sunken grade where a trench was not compacted The jolt knocked my hands off the handlebars but I stayed upright. Unable to leverage myself back to the handlebars I was headed to a sharp turn around the little bay and its riprap bank. I ditched sideways and got the mother of all road rashes.
The route should be maintained
I ride this fairly often and I think in the past year or two it’s gotten much worse. It when from “choppy” to “there goes my pannier” or “oh I didn’t realize I have a headache” somewhere between July 2021 and July 2022.
I’m not surprised it launched someone. Overall what I perceive to be the safe speed on that path tends very low.
I would think the city (parks & rec or PBOT) could still come in and fix the trail and bill the property owner for not maintaining it. That’s exactly what they threaten to do to homeowners when we get a sidewalk compliance warning. In fact, the letter they send says that I could expect to pay a lot more if the city bills me than if I get a contractor to do it for me (or DIY). Sounds to me that the city is just playing pass-the-buck.
Regardless of who is ultimately responsible, the lack of support from city employees is disheartening.
This is a city that has made it policy to encourage biking, and as part of that, make it safe to do so.
A citizen got hurt, and let the city know they were hurt, and is worried about others being hurt themselves. That should be enough for the city to get to work on addressing the issue. If the city is responsible, then fix it. If the property owner is, then the city should reach out to them.
Don’t tell someone that it’s their responsibility to hunt down the property owner to inform them.
Re: biking through Riverplace, can you still do that? A couple weekends ago I rode this path for the first time in years and when I got to riverplace I thought I saw a sign pointing bikes away/along the road? I just stayed on the street to connect to Better Naito.
You technically can. But most folks these days have given up on it, in large part because alternatives have gotten so much better and no one wants to deal with the headache of the business owners and the “Dismount” signs.
There are also a number of bumps similar to these further south.
One can avoid the bumps Amy encountered pretty easily. I commute this way nearly every day and bypass this section by going along the path adjacent to the trolley tracks and in front of the Tesla dealership. Then I encounter the bumps I refer to above.
Or like someone else mentioned, I cross the Tillicum and hit the Springwater–which is not without its own maintenance issues, e.g. falling fence line, deteriorating pavement, trash etc.
Regrettably for Amy, the most likely way to get compensated for the building owner’s lack of maintenance is to sue. Fortunately, the value of her bicycle is well within the Small Claims Court limit of $10,000. She can file without an attorney, and she may be able to find some volunteer legal resources to guide her in filing her claim.
Thanks for this. Imagine they have corporate big time attorneys and insurance departments that will fight against it. But I’ll look into it.
Amy – small claims court is very straightforward. You present your evidence and they present any counter evidence. They can certainly consult with lawyers but lawyers aren’t part of the actual proceedings.
thanks again
Really sorry about your bike. I’m shocked the frame would crumple like that. I hope someone who knows about frames will comment here and let us know whether that’s a common result of a crash to that kind of frame. I’ve crashed many times over the years with my heavy old steel frames and they have always been fine.
Who paved this section? Whoever paved it is probably responsible for it. I bet it’s the city – if you can find the right bureau while they all play “Hot Potato.”
It’s our usual half-assed city gov’t. Vote yes on charter reform in November!
It is private property according to portlandmaps.com. That makes sense (remember the recent Tesla bike path reporting next door). The path was undoubtedly put in as a requirement from the City when the building was built. There must be an easement or some agreement that the path be kept available to the public, otherwise the owner would have closed it long ago. That agreement would spell out whether maintenance is the responsibility of Parks or the owner.
If Parks is responsible for maintenance, the claim people were wrong, and should pay reimbursement, and Parks should start maintaining it and apologize to everyone for failing for years to maintain it. If the owner is responsible, the owner should pay her, plus do all the repairs, plus be pursued by someone for ADA violations, for creating a dangerous situation, and for violating its agreement to maintain the property.
The part I disliked most is that the City, in its claim denial, didn’t include a “However, even though you should be asking the owner, not us, for reimbursement, we will be investigating to find out who is responsible for maintenance and be sure the path gets fixed by whoever is responsible”. It’s the City’s responsibility to follow up, not Amy’s, as the City seemed to think. Parks’ Mark Ross’ response was much better.
thanks for this
Hypothetically speaking, if a person wanted to raise awareness of of these bumps in a way to get attention from someone responsible for maintenance, they could, again hypothetically speaking, draw something on or around them that might be counter to the sensibilities of most people.
There was a story from the UK in 2015 of someone who went around and painted phallic drawings around potholes until the local council repaired them. I believe that they used something non-permanent like industrial chalk, so as to not cause damage.
I used to live out there, and the sections I knew were privately owned. Fixing things requires complying with a process that is expensive and involved.
Figuring out what needs to be done is way easier when it’s someone else’s money and time.
I’m leery of relying too heavily legal approaches that put all the burden on people who just happen to live there. Sounds like a great to get things shut down.
I still use the path sometimes, most recently on Monday. My general observations are that the overall condition of the path has been the same for many years and that many if not most cyclists ride significantly faster than the 10mph limit set there because of peds, dog walkers, kids, etc.
Destroying a bike on a 10mph path is impressive
Thanks for writing about this, Jonathan.
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