The City of Portland's "Marquam Hill Plan" proposes a pedestrian route connecting Sam Jackson Park Road with Terwilliger Boulevard. OHSU has identifies two possible alignments for this trail, and is in the process of evaluating and selecting a preferred alignment.

The top of the route will start at the intersection of Sam Jackson Park Road and the soon-to-be relocated Campus Drive. The route will proceed down the steep, forested hill, crossing property owned by both OHSU and Portland Parks and Recreation. The upper portion carries an Environmental Conservation (C zone) and Design overlay zone, and the lower portion is an Environmental Protection (P zone) and Design zone. The route is designated in the Marquam Hill Plan's "Pedestrian Connections Vision Plan" as Route #24. It is classified as Tier 1, which is to be developed in 1-5 years, and is a Class 1 route, which is a formal, hard surfaced, all weather access route.

A small pedestrian plaza and overlook is proposed at the top trail head, which will offer a filtered view through the forest canopy of the Willamette River below. The plaza will include benches and ornamental lighting.

The lower trail head will start at Terwilliger Boulevard. The up-hill side of Terwilliger is flanked with a near vertical face of bedrock, except for two specific locations where there are breaks in the bedrock. These two breaks are the only reasonable locations for trail access through the vertical bedrock wall, and are the basis of the two trail alignment options. The southern location, Alignment "A", is an electric utility corridor, where the rock face was excavated for an underground line. The northern location, Alignment "B", is an existing drainage ravine.

The lower terminus will ultimately correspond to a pedestrian crossing of Terwilliger Blvd. at that specific location. The proximity of the crossing locations to the curves in the road must be considered as the sight distance and speed of car travel affects the safety of the pedestrian crossing locations.

The safest crossing location is created from Alignment "B", the northerly route, as it is about midway between the two curves on Terwilliger Blvd. with adequate sight distance. A representative from Portland Department of Transportation has evaluated the two crossing locations, and favors the northerly location, Alignment "B".

ALIGNMENT OPTION A
Click each image for a larger view.
		Blow up of campus trail location of both proposed alignments of Terwillger Trail.
		View to Trailhead on Sam Jackson Parkway looking east
		View to Trailbase on Terwilliger looking east
ALIGNMENT OPTION B
		Stairs leading down to Terwilliger Blvd
		View looking south on Terwilliger Blvd from trail terminus