Accessibility for All

Disability Issues & Resources

Many trails, many rides, many hikes

Accessibility for All

The Columbia River Gorge has many positive welcomes for people with disabilities, be they visual or non visual. For visitors, the Columbia Gorge Tourism Alliance (CGTA) has provided a large leadership in helping businesses welcome All Visitors. In 2022, the CGTA provided a team to assess the Historic Columbia River Highway Waterfall Corridor for its accessibility status. This report is reproduced below. The report was in turn given to each jurisdiction with detailed areas for not only improvement but illustrating deficiencies for many decades.

The Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990.

For us in cycling, we focus on accessibility. This has evolved into recognizing All Bodies All Bikes. This means the umbrella of cycling includes many people not just people with visable disabilities. For example, when Bike Share began in Portland, OR there was a component which provides acessible type of tricycles & quadricycles. Interview statistics indicated that that almost of one third use of these cycles were people who had temporary medical healing events that prohibited use of their bicycle; people had episodic symptoms which interrupted their stability of using a bicycle; and a number had a partner who used the accessible bike and was able to join in a ride together.

The point is more and more people are cycling and truly have more accessibility to places to safely ride (e.g. No Car Trails) as well as ebike tsunami of cycles on the road. Our prepandemic statistics revealed that the tourism for people with disability spend 58 billion dollars per year and a single traveler with disability has two travelers with them.

Viento State Park a premiere accessible campground in the Gorge.

This renewed park as of Autumn 2023 has many amenities increasing Accessibility for Gorge cycling and camping.

Accessible Camping Wheelchair

Accessible Showers

Camping spots are fully rollable and flat for wheelchair access.

Above Left: Showers are accessible for wheelchair users, has bench for showering; allows companion assistence. Right: picnic tables allow families to park strollers at table and complete rollin access.

Accessible waterfalls

Three Big Deficiencies: Restrooms, Eagle Creek Staircase, &Pedestrian Crossings

Restrooms:

Many of bathrooms along the corridor are not within ADA standards. A number of the restrooms are legacy construction from pre-ADA Law times.

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Eagle Creek Staricase 1996

The 1996 built Eagle Creek Staircase prohibits the people from completing the first No Car trail of the western trail. One can only go from Cascade Locks to Easgle Creek or one can only Yeon Trail head to Eagle Creek. This stair has grooves along the edge of the staircase which enables a single bike -even with panniers- to roll up/down the "steps" with some dexterity. A tryke, quadricycle, bike with baby buggy, or cargo bike will require two people to transit the staircase.

Barrier Eagle Creek Staircase

Barrier Eagle Creek Staircase

The the Historic Columbia River Highway (HCRH) waterfall corridor is very congested.

The the HCRH waterfall corridor is more a series of urban pedestrian crosswalks than a scenic highway.

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Dangerous Crossing HCRH

Illegal Placement of ADA Ramps

The largest issue is pedestrian crossings along he Historic Columbia River Highway along the Water Fall Corridor. As a transportation planner with a perspective of moving people in an urban setting, they may see this corridor as a series of urban intersections along a highway. Regrettably, for many, many years ODOT has seen this as a highway which should not be impeded with by any mechanism to help pedestrians cross. Scoflaw parking has contributed to safety of visitors who exiting their cars are instantly in the travel lanes. Adding solutions such as transit is finally present.

One signifcant issue is having proper ADA ramps which are oppositional. This means crossing the highway from one ramp should be precisely directly across from the other. This is mandated by both ODOT Highway Division and also by the ODOT Bicycle and Pedestrian Handbooks.

The safety issue in this corridor is having a diagonal crossing means more exposure to vehicles; some places of crossing have blind turns in whihc large basalt slabs hide what is around the corner. Imagine a slow walker will take longer, plus there are no road markers to indicate to the vechicle driver that this is a crossing. From 2017 statistics, we know that pedestrians crossing from the parking lots to Multnomah Falls Lodge and viewing platforms number near 1500 per hour from 10 to 3pm. The noon time avereage for the busiest crossiing in Portland is about 800 people. This is why one begins to see the Waterfall Corridor as a series of urban intersections with a highway through it and not just a highway that should not be impeded by pedestrian concerns.

Where we need political help in bringing up the standard of transportation & tourism to 1990 Levels of Access for All.