Source, and further reading: https://www.oregonlive.com/travel/2019/ ... gorge.htmlAnother segment of the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail will open on Saturday, Aug. 3, giving the public new access to the paved pedestrian and cycling trail that will eventually run the length of the gorge.
The new segment runs three miles connecting Wyeth State Park to Lindsey Creek, where it meets a smaller trail segment that opened in 2016. The paved pathway then continues 1.2 miles farther west past Starvation Creek to Viento State Park.
While the last trail segment completed gave new views of waterfalls, this one is highlighted by a 500-foot viaduct that rises up above Interstate 84, giving what promise to be great new views of the Columbia Gorge.
It also features safe passage around an unstable rocky hill known as Shellrock Mountain, a particularly tricky task for engineers.
I consider this to be a ridiculous frivolous squandering of resources, but more importantly I'm wondering if they destroyed anything of importance along the way. I know an ODOT document promised to leave the 19th C wagon road untouched, so that's good. That was my primary concern.
I'm itching to go check it out, but this will go on my bad-weather list. I certainly won't waste a lovely summer day walking parallel to an interstate highway.