Bonny Slope & Area 93

Nestled on the NW edge of the county is a patch of single-family homes and...not much else

The nice views give Bonny Slope its name

I use heat maps a lot when preparing for a bike ride to a new community. Usually, it helps to see where other people go to quickly find the best routes and destinations in each neighborhood.

However, my plans break down for three dead-zones in the Hillsboro-Beaverton Metro Area:

Hillsboro-Beaverton biking heat map with the Bonny Slope, West Haven-Sylvan, and West Slope highlighted.

The three low-heat areas are Bonny Slope, West Haven-Sylvan, and West Slope. Each one has more than 8000 residents crowded in (more than Rock Creek, Gaston, or Banks), sandwiched between population centers of Portland and the West Suburbs. So where are all the cyclists?

It's not the hills. Many cyclists love hills (me included). Other mountainous regions like Bethany are lit up. We're constantly pedaling up Skyline Blvd, Forest Park, Logie Trail, and Bald Mountain but we're never on Barnes or Thompson.

These biking deserts arise from hostile infrastructure, a series of planning decisions that heavily favor cars over pedestrians. In my opinion, this ruins what would otherwise be a picturesque place to live. Today, I'm covering the northernmost bleak spot: Bonny Slope.

Bonny Slope

The steep hills also give Bonny Slope its name

Good news everyone: Taste of Sichuan is open after a multi-year restoration from a fire. Hurray! It's not appropriate to park your car here for a bike ride, so my wife and I drove out together with my bike in tow. After lunch, I headed east and up.

The route gets hilly after leaving Saltzman. It's also unpredictable. I'm off the interconnectors into residential streets. They're not continuous and I have to check my directions every minute or two. I'm never sure if the next bend in the road will reveal a glute-burning ascent or a sharp careen down a gully.

The whole neighborhood is never-ending single-family homes. There are big ones and small ones, ranches and boxy new builds. A few parks and greenways connect the subdivisions together.

The topography helps explain why this was one of the final pieces of the Portland metro to get developed. Some of the final logging operations were here and major roads weren't paved until the 1990s.

There's not much commerce, just the one cafe.

The homes are nice. The views are nice. The schools are nice. Still, residents in the area may not quite realize what they've given up.

Single-family homes mean low density. Low density plus no local business means there's not enough customer base to support walkable shops (save the one). Every necessity (work, food, school) is now a drive away. The only two thru roads clog with traffic. The detached (very nice) home becomes an inescapable cage.

It's fine riding around the place, but I doubt I'll be back unless I'm meeting friends in the one coffee shop. I continue up the hill, and briefly through Multnomah County (boo! hiss!) to my other destination of the day.

Area 93

Washington County was once a mighty empire, spanning the entire NW corner of the territory. Over time, our bulwarks have crumbled as our land has been taken from us bit by bit. But no more! After over a century of stagnant frontlines, WashCo turned back the Multnomah incursion in 2013 and began to reclaim our birthright. Our repatriated land: Area 93.

In other words, due to some strange quirks of existing infrastructure and land use, Multnomah gave us about 160 acres so we could urbanize it.

It's kind of a big deal, the first adjustment in county lines in 160 years. You can read about it here. The whole situation was so odd, I decided to pay a visit, myself. I can't wait to see what we've done with the place.

...oh.

I see we went with Zero-Lot-Line chic. Lots of boxy homes crammed together along the one major road and zero local amenities. There's no bus route through the area, either. Anyone with a suspended license might as well be under house arrest.

Surely, this new area within the Urban Growth Boundary, combined with Metro's commitment to alternative transport means the new developments include ample sidewalks and bike lanes, right?

Also no. This footbridge over a ravine is nice but it's not connected to any sidewalks or bike shoulders along this long steep, winding, shaded, narrow throughfare. I'm perfectly safe, but if I lived here, I'd be disinclined to cycle from my house with any regularity. And this is the only way to reach the nearest grocery store in Bethany. Any cyclist living here likely loads up their car and drives somewhere more pedestrian-friendly.

Seems like a nice place, but not somewhere I'd want to live. I doubt I'll visit again. (there's not even a coffee shop)

From here, I head down the hill until it joins up with the Westside Bike trail.

This is beyond Bonny Slope, but it does make a good end point. I can head into any direction from here: south to Cedar Mill, north to Bethany, or west to Hillsboro.

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