Pacific Northwest - Portland to Clark College (Vancouver, WA)

Hello all. I will be visiting Portland in a couple of weeks and I was wondering if somebody could give me the most bike friendly route from North Portland to Clark College in Vancouver, WA. For a starting point in North Portland, why don't we use the Waypost? Thanks, I apreciate the help.

You will probably find this web site very useful:

http://www.bycycle.org/regions/portlandor

Use the "Find a route" tab to enter in two addresses and see what it comes up with. I use it all the time.

Scott

thanks for the link! That is an awesome resource. Unfortunatley it couldn't locate the address, so if anybody knows of a good route please chime in. Thanks again!

Ah...I guess bycycle gets confused with the Washington destination.

It looks like Clark College is just over the I-5 bridge. There is a multi-use path on the sides of the I-5 bridge. Getting to it safely is a bit confusing if you've never done it before. Here is a video that describes the process of getting from that area in Vancouver to N Portland:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWxY1dohFp0

You will want to modify these instructions a bit so you end up going North over the I-5 bridge on the East side. But what's nice is you can see landmarks that might not be described well on individual maps.

Scott

Thanks for the youtube vid, you've been quite helpful.

N on Williams,
Left on Failing,
cross I-5
Right on Concord
cross Going
Left on Humbolt
Right on Denver
Roll up into Kenton,

Then here's a map from Kenton to Clark (http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&t=h&msa=0&msid=103290033957651566435.00046d861e3a4c265712d&ll=45.600587,-122.662697&spn=0.087676,0.222988&z=13)

LesterofPuppets, that's just what I needed. Thanks dude!

Hello all. I will be visiting Portland in a couple of weeks and I was wondering if somebody could give me the most bike friendly route from North Portland to Clark College in Vancouver, WA. For a starting point in North Portland, why don't we use the Waypost? Thanks, I apreciate the help.

Here's a map of the I-5 bridge crossing:
http://www.portlandonline.com/TRANSPORTATION/index.cfm?c=34809&a=189750
Note that Clark College is on the Northeast corner of Fort Vancouver Way and McLoughlin, not the southwest shown on this map.

Further south, the bridge on Vancouver Ave. over the Columbia Slough is closed to everything except bicycle traffic right now due to structural issues. (A fire under the bridge damaged it.) It's easy enough to bike around the barriers.

The city of Vancouver map of the I-5 crossing:
http://www.cityofvancouver.us/upload/contents/738/InterstateBridgeMap.pdf
goes into more detail. Detail's helpful- that particular highway/street/bike route complex was designed by an earthworm on acid. :twitchy:

Another perspective- the interactive City of Vancouver map:
http://www.cityofvancouver.us/bike.asp?menuid=10466&submenuID=23027&itemID=23511#

Oooh, after looking at one of those maps, I just thought that if you don't mind a short sketchy gravel section (assuming road tires), after getting off the bridge, you could
go east (Left) on Columbia and take the land bridge over to the Fort,
then Left on 5th,
right on McLoughlin which becomes Ft. Vancouver Way and takes you right up to Clark.

Oooh, after looking at one of those maps, I just thought that if you don't mind a short sketchy gravel section (assuming road tires), after getting off the bridge, you could
go east (Left) on Columbia and take the land bridge over to the Fort,
then Left on 5th,
right on McLoughlin which becomes Ft. Vancouver Way and takes you right up to Clark.

Actually, the Fort Vancouver Land Bridge (http://www.confluenceproject.org/project_sites/fort_vancouver/) trail is entirely paved now. I think they completed the paving in April. It makes an interesting diversion from the direct route to Clark College... and would probably be my preference for heading downhill from Clark College to the I-5 bridge.

Hardest part will be crossing the border.
its a pretty simple ride.

Hot damn, thanks for all the replys and advice!

Hardest part will be crossing the border.
its a pretty simple ride.

What's so tough about that? I do it twice a day! :lol: