By CHRIS AADLAND, Reporter
MISSION – Whether it’s getting to work, going to an appointment or as a healthy living strategy, Umatilla Indian Reservation community members now have safer options to walk, run or bike near the tribal government headquarters area.
About 30 people joined Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) Board of Trustees (BOT) members and the Youth Leadership Council on Monday afternoon for a ribbon cutting ceremony to mark the completion of a $1.5 million segment of trails separated from traffic on busy roads around the Nixyáawíi Governance Center, Yellowhawk Tribal Health Center, the Cay-Uma-Wa Head Start program and Nixyáawíi Community School.
Tribal officials say the new walkways are a response to comments the CTUIR received when updating its long-term transportation plan about the need for options, other than the shoulder of a busy road, for walking, biking and horse riding.
“People who want to stay healthy now have a safe place to walk, a safe place to be for our reservation,” BOT Chairman Gary I. Burke said at Monday’s ceremony.
The project includes an Oregon Department of Transportation Safe Routes to School trail section south from Mission Road along Highway 331, also known as South Market Road, to Timine Way, the governance center’s entry road. A Community Paths trail diverges from the Safe Routes to School path and connects to an existing trail to the north of the governance center.
The trails provide approximately 1,700 linear feet of paths separated from Highway 331 traffic. Ramps and lighting will make it wheelchair accessible.
Additionally, crosswalks will be marked at three of the four corners at the intersection of Mission and South Market roads.
The project is open for the public to use and expected to be completed in the coming weeks.
Before submitting grant applications to ODOT in 2020, the tribal Planning Office conducted community outreach and identified the four corners area at Mission Road and Highway 331 as an area that could be made safer for pedestrians, Shulte said.
ODOT grants covered about $1.44 million of the project’s cost, with the CTUIR allocating $65,000, according to the tribe.
Construction crews with Eastern Oregon Contracting in Milton-Freewater and Bryson Picard Grading & Excavating began work in April.
The project is also part of a larger vision of improved traffic signage and a trail system that links other parts of the reservation – and eventually, Pendleton – to the area around the governance center, Yellowhawk and NCS.
“I’m so happy that we have a safe place for this community to walk and roll,” Schulte said. “I hope we keep building on that success and make this community safer for folks who either choose to get around in a way other than their vehicle or don’t choose and just use walking and biking as their way of getting around.”
After Monday’s ribbon cutting, many of those who attended walked the new stretch of trails.
During that walk, Schulte said the plan is for the system to eventually stretch to Pendleton’s Riverwalk and connect the Riverside neighborhood – which is within reservation’s boundaries and where an increasing number of tribal members live – to the rest of the reservation community.
However, that longer trail would be complicated and expensive to build, costing up to $7 million, according to the tribal Planning Department.
In the meantime, Schulte said the CTUIR is closer to breaking ground on other projects meant to make the Mission area safer for pedestrians.
The tribe, she added, has applied for three grants worth $4.5 million to pay for pedestrian improvements starting where Mission Road meets Timine Way, going east to Short Mile Road.
Other future changes in the area near the governance center to improve pedestrian and motorist safety could include traffic pattern changes, like roundabouts, Shulte said.
