It wasn’t immediately obvious how I would commute on my bike through the Portland, Oregon metro area from Gladstone to Beaverton. The route is a bit long, but really quite pleasant.
I work in a very bike-friendly office. Roughly one-third of the 30 or so people on staff bike to work on a regular basis. Within the confines of our office, we’ve got a couple sets of bike racks, a maintainance rack, a community tire pump, and any number of folks willing to share their expertise on the care and feeding of bicycles.
So in March, 2006 I took the plunge and decided to bike to work as often as possible. For me, that has often meant four days a week, since a long-standing weekly commitment sometimes makes it difficult to fit the ride into my schedule on Thursdays. In early 2008, I started logging my rides.
My biggest question concerned what route I should take. I live south-southeast of downtown Portland in the sleepy little suburb of Gladstone, while my office is across town in the western suburb of Beaverton. I knew that if I could get to downtown Portland, then I could take the MAX train under the west hills and right to our office building.
After some experimentation and helpful advice from others, I settled on the route outlined below. I’m in a bike lane, on side streets, or on a bike path almost the entire route. The distance measurements below come from my Cateye Mity 8 cyclocomputer, which I believe to be fairly accurate, and total 12.9 miles.
Procedure 1. Gladstone to Downtown Portland
Gladstone (0.5 miles).
Leaving home, I ride my way through housing subdivisions to Oatfield Rd. It’s mostly uphill, with a couple short, steep ascents. The climbs help to warm my body early in the ride to counteract the typically chilly early-morning temperatures.
Oatfield Road (4.1 miles).
Left on Oatfield Rd and head north. It’s very pleasant: relatively few cross streets, lots of trees, some rolling hills, and a bike lane for nearly its entire length.
At the very north end, however, there’s a steep and curvy downhill section followed by a moderate-to-steep short rise. The bike lane disappears on the descent, so I have to ride in traffic. I’m able to keep pace with most automobiles through the downhill curves, so it’s not really all that bad.
Milwaukie (1.1 miles).
Turn left on SE Lake Rd, right onto SE 21 Av, left onto SE Harrison St.
Lake is a straight, light descent into downtown Milwaukie. It doesn’t have a bike lane, but the early-morning traffic is light. Little downtown Milwaukie is cute, and the recent work along the waterfront is attractive, but stop signs at just about every corner can slow things down.
SE 17 Av (1.0 miles).
Once Harrison crosses McLoughlin (99E), it becomes SE 17 Av and immediately veers right and heads north. It’s a straight, light climb, with a bike lane the whole way.
Sellwood (0.9 miles).
Sellwood is basically built on a city grid, so there are plenty of permutations for getting through it. The destination is the far west end of SE Umatilla St, where I pick up the Springwater Corridor. My typical route takes me west on SE Linn (the first Sellwood street that crosses 17th), north on SE 13 Av, and finally west down Umatilla. East of 11th, Sellwood is flat, but it starts to slope downward to the river as you head west of 11th. It’s all residential streets here: light traffic, no bike lanes, plenty of stop signs.
Springwater Corridor (3.2 miles).
At the bottom of Umatilla, I get on the Springwater Corridor, a bike/walking path that takes me the rest of the way to downtown Portland. There’s one street to cross (Spokane) about 0.2 miles after the entrance on Umatilla; otherwise, it’s flat and car-less the entire way. The early-morning light on the lagoon across from Oaks Parks is sometimes breathtaking, and the views of the Willamette River are always nice. Kudos to the City of Portland for installing and maintaining such a resource.
Portland Waterfront (1.0 miles).
Springwater Corridor exits onto SE 4th Av. I keep riding north a couple blocks to SE Caruthers St. I turn left and head west down past the Portland Opera building to the multi-use path the runs along the river northward. The path winds around the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), under the Marquam Bridge (Interstate 5), and up to the Hawthorne Bridge. I ride under the bridge and ride up a cloverleaf onramp to the bike/pedestrian path on the westbound side of the bridge. Plenty of joggers, walkers, and other bikers are on the bridge. It’s typically the busiest section of road I hit in the morning. Except for a mild rise getting onto the bridge, this section of the route is all flat.
Downtown Portland (1.1 miles).
Leaving the bridge, I head westward on SW Main St. to SW 3rd Ave. I turn left on 3rd and go two blocks to SW Jefferson. Turning right on Jefferson, I head westward to SW 19th Av and the Goose Hollow MAX station. Jefferson is a mildly challenging ascent up to I-405. The traffic lights in downtown Portland are timed so that a vehicle going about 15 miles per hour can make all green lights. It’s my daily challege to keep that pace up the hill so I hit no red lights. After crossing over I-405, there’s a pretty fast downhill almost all the way to the train station. There’s a bike lane on Main and also one on Jefferson.
Most days, the route takes me about 50 minutes. I try to arrive at the train station a few minutes early so I can stretch before getting on the train.
The Beaverton Central MAX station is about 15 yards from the front door of our office building, so I’m at work once I get off the train. The train ride is about 15 minutes, making my total one-way travel time about 70 minutes. If I make the station just as the train is arriving, I sometimes get to the office 64 or 65 minutes after I leave home.
Getting home is nearly the mirror image of the morning commute, so my discussion will be limited to noting the differences.
Procedure 2. Goose Hollow to Gladstone
Downtown Portland
From the Goose Hollow MAX station, I head up the hill on SW Columbia St and across I-405 and downhill toward the Willamette River. There’s no bike lane on Columbia, but once I’m on the downhill side of the 405, keeping up with traffic is no problem at all. I turn left on SW Park and then right on SW Madison, which basically becomes the Hawthorne Bridge at the river. There’s a fairly busy bus stop on Madison between 2nd and 1st Avenues where it’s often necessary to dodge a Tri-Met bus or two.
Portland Waterfront
The afternoon view of the river from the Hawthorne bridge on a sunny afternoon is always beautiful. Once across the river, I exit the bridge and head south past OMSI to the end of the esplanade and head left onto SE Caruthers. After just a block, I turn right on SE 4 Ave to where it ends at the Springwater Corridor.
Springwater Corridor
The afternoon breeze usually comes from the north, making for a nice tailwind down Springwater. There are way more people out during the afternoon than at sunrise, but it rarely feels too crowded.
Sellwood
The morning trip in reverse: up Umatilla, right on 11th, left on Linn.
SE 17 Avenue
After turning right on 17th, I get a nice slight downhill all the way to McLoughlin.
Milwaukie
Crossing McLoughlin, I head back through Milwaukie. There’s more traffic than in the morning, which means a lot of stopping and starting at intersections. After going through downtown, there’s the mild ascent on Lake, which has no bike lane. This is the only part of the homeward trip where I have to share a lane with traffic that’s traveling significantly faster than I am.
Oatfield Road
After a brief but quick descent, there’s a half-mile climb that is sometimes quite steep. It’s not unusual to pass casual bikers walking their bikes up this stretch of road. At least the uphill side of the road has a bike lane! After that climb, however, the rest of Oatfield is a real pleasure.
Gladstone
After I leave Oatfield, it’s a descent or flat in the home stretch, which is a nice way to finish the ride.
Sometimes, when the weather is mild and the daylight splendid, I forego MAX entirely and ride the entire way home. It involves a few miles of steady, albeit not terribly steep, climbing over Portland’s west hills. The trip begins in central Beaverton, near the intersection of Hall and Canyon, and meets my normal route in downtown Portland.
Procedure 3. Beaverton to Downtown Portland
Beaverton (2.5 miles)
The trick here is to get to the corner of SW Knollcrest Dr. and SW Park Wy (near Ridgewood Park), the west end of the bike trail that runs alongside US Hwy 26 (Sunset Hwy). My route involves lots of winding through residential neighborhoods: east on SW Center St., cut north through Center Street Park, north on SW 116 (jogging east a bit at Fairfield), east on SW Terra Linda, north on SW 113, east on SW Walker, northeast on SW Roxbury (which becomes SW Eastridge), southeast on SW Wilshire St.(crossing Hwy. 217) and finally north on SW Knollcrest Dr. Knollcrest ends at the noise-abatement wall that borders the Sunset Hwy.
The trip down Center St. is flat, but once I hit 116th, I’m climbing just about the entire length of this leg. There’s one spot on Roxbury that’s quite steep, but otherwise it’s a steady, gradual rise.
Climb to Sylvan (2.0 miles)
At the end of Knollcrest, turn right and head up the bike path. After a mile or so, the path ends and bike traffic continues on SW Pointer Rd, the first part of which is rather steep. Turn left on SW Camelot Ct and cross Hwy 26. Turn right on the other side of the bridge (but before entering the cemetery) and the bike path reappears to take you up the hill to SW Skyline Blvd. There’s a stoplight at Skyline, and it’s here that you can stop and congratulate yourself on finishing the bulk of your climb!
Descent to Zoo (0.9 miles)
The bike path crosses Skyline but shortly ends. Veer right on SW Canyon Ct. and enjoy the nice downhill trek to the Zoo exit off Hwy 26.
Zoo (0.5 miles)
Canyon Ct. ends at Canyon Rd. Turn left and head up through the parking lot of the Washington Park Zoo. It’s a pretty solid climb. At the other end of the parking lot, turn right on Canyon Rd, and head up to SW Kingston Dr. The climb is now over!
Washington Park (2.4 miles)
Turn right on SW Kingston and start heading downhill. There’s a stop sign at SW Sherwood Blvd at the Rose Garden; turn right there and continue downhill. After you round a little reservoir, there’s another stop sign; turn right again and follow SW Lewis and Clark Circle to the next stop sign at the east end of Washington Park.
The whole trip down through the park is nice. There are no cross streets and lots of trees. In the late spring and early summer, you might encounter lots of traffic near the Rose Garden. On days when the Zoo is crowded, it’s not unusual to find yourself in a line of cars behind a driver who adheres strictly to the 20 mph speed limit on Kingston and Sherwood.
Uptown and Downtown Portland (1.4 miles)
The steepest portion of the downhill trek is in uptown. Turn right off of Lewis and Clark onto SW Park Pl, and you’ll find yourself heading down a fairly steep slope. Park ends at SW King; turn right and then make an immediate left onto SW Salmon. You’ll pass the Multnomah Athletic Club and then Lincoln High School before crossing over I-405. I usually stay on Salmon until I get to SW Park Ave. I turn right on Park and left a couple blocks later on SW Madison, which takes me all the way down to the Hawthorne Bridge.
At that point, I pick up my normal route at the Portland Waterfront. It’s just about 10 miles from work to the Willamette, and the total trip home is about 21.5 miles.