Lake Oswego's Riverfront Path Is About to Reach George Rogers Park. Here's the Walk It Will Make.

Walk south from Foothills Park on the paved riverside path, through Roehr Park, and the trail ends at the bend in the Willamette River in front of the Willamette condominiums. For years, getting to George Rogers Park from there meant turning around. Crews are now building the missing piece. Project Manager Kyra Haggart told City Council it is "about 870 feet of new pathway from George Rogers Park to where the trail currently ends in front of the river bend on the Willamette condos," according to the Lake Oswego Review.

That's a short piece of trail, but it changes what the riverfront path is. Once it opens, the Willamette shoreline becomes a 2.25-mile line from downtown's First Street bakeries to Old Town's restaurants on South State Street. The south end stops being a dead end and becomes somewhere to walk to.

Why 870 feet took decades

The holdup was never the trail itself. It was the land. Five private properties sat between George Rogers Park and the end of the southbound trail. Starting in 2007, Parks and Recreation got pathway easements on three of them. In 2023, the city condemned the other two to get easement rights, the Lake Oswego Review reported.

Mayor Joe Buck spoke plainly about what that meant when the funding vote came up on March 31. "We did condemn these properties to make it happen," he said, as quoted in the same Review article. "We can't just get that property and sit on it forever."

Council approved the $1.76 million budget unanimously. Here's how the funding breaks down:

The budget includes a 20% contingency for construction costs. It also came with a trade-off. To fund the greenway this year, the city moved $500,000 in local share money away from a planned upgrade to the Luscher Farm driveway and parking lot. Advocates from Friends of Luscher Farm asked council at the same meeting to keep that funding in place.

People in the neighborhood have waited a long time. At the July 15 groundbreaking, neighbors talked about the path being discussed 30 years ago, the Old Town Neighborhood Association wrote. The association also notes that the 2002 George Rogers Park Master Plan included this connection but never funded it.

Where construction stood in mid-October

Daybreak Construction won the contract over nine other bidders this spring. Notice to proceed went out June 16, and the groundbreaking followed on July 15. Footings and retaining walls along the new section were finished in September.

The city's project page posted its latest update on Oct. 14. Concrete retaining walls were underway, asphalt paving was expected "in the coming weeks," and concrete work on the switchback was scheduled for October. The city expects the project to be done in late fall, with a ribbon-cutting celebration after that. The date hasn't been announced.

Here's how the full route breaks down once the gap is filled:

The circle at the top of the switchback

The design of the new section's south end will shape how you use it. The city describes "an ADA compliant pathway with switchbacks, handrails, and landings, providing a safe and accessible route from the memorial lawn to the river's edge at George Rogers Park." Until now, nothing at the park did that job.

The switchback climbs to the restrooms and the grass circle in lower George Rogers Park. From there, the Old Town Neighborhood Association reports that signs will ask cyclists to walk their bikes around the circle to reach the existing riverside path toward Old River Road. That older path isn't being widened or rebuilt. The goal is to keep walkers and riders out of the lower parking lot, which has no sidewalks and no turnaround space for cars.

The new trail is 10 feet wide, according to a May neighborhood-meeting summary. City staff said they planned to teach users to walk their bikes around the park's oval lawn. If you ride the full route, expect to dismount at the south end for a short stretch.

Beyond the walk itself, the city says the link will give neighborhoods south of George Rogers Park and Oswego Creek a safe walking and biking route to downtown. For anyone living along Old River Road, downtown becomes an off-street walk instead of a drive.

Two ends, two menus

With the trail as a through route, each end gives you a reason to walk to the other. Both ends picked up new places in the past year, too.

At the Old Town end, along South State Street near George Rogers Park:

• KIN Izakaya and Sake Bar, 363 S State St., replaced Open Rice Sushi & Chinese with a retro Showa-era izakaya. The Lake Oswego Review covered its June soft launch, and the Old Town Neighborhood Association ran a June post titled "There's a great new Japanese restaurant in LO that we can walk to."
• Nicoletta's Table, 333 S State St., is an Italian trattoria with a market and bar. The neighborhood association featured it as a favorite in 2025.

At the downtown end, a few blocks up from Foothills Park:

• Artisserie Fine Bakery, 350 First St., is a French pâtisserie that opened in July 2025 in the former Blue Star Donuts space, per the Lake Oswego Review.
• St. Honoré Boulangerie, 315 1st St., Suite 103, is a French bakery and café that lists the Lake Oswego shop as open daily.
• Lake Oswego Coffee House & Wine Bar, 148 B Ave., Suite 200, opened in February 2026 in the former Beso Bar & Bottle space, the Review reported.
• Lake View Taphouse, 305 1st St., serves lunch, dinner and weekend brunch.
• Sushi M, 440 5th St., started welcoming customers in early May 2026, according to the Review.
• Jewel Box Steak, 149 A Ave., is open Wednesday through Saturday and opened November and December holiday reservations in October.

Once the ribbon is cut, a walk from south to north could look like this:

1. Start at the iron furnace in George Rogers Park, where the city points out a river view nearby.
2. Cross the grass circle and take the new switchback down to the river's edge.
3. Follow the new trail north past the river bend at the Willamette condos, where the old trail used to end.
4. Continue through Roehr Park, past its viewing decks and amphitheater and the Charlie S. Brown Water Sports Center.
5. Finish at the Foothills Park river-view platform and the Stafford Stones, then walk a few blocks up to First Street for a pastry.

Walk it in reverse and dinner at KIN or Nicoletta's Table is waiting at the south end.

The calendar around the opening

The ribbon cutting lands in a busy stretch for downtown, so here's what's on the calendar:

• Nov. 6 to Dec. 20: Irving Berlin's White Christmas runs at Lakewood Center for the Arts. There's no performance on Thanksgiving, Nov. 26.
• Saturday, Nov. 21, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.: The Reunion Farmers' Market returns to Millennium Plaza Park with returning vendors, local artisans, music and horse-drawn wagon rides.
• Friday, Nov. 27, 3 to 7 p.m.: The 62nd Annual Tree Lighting Festival fills Millennium Plaza Park, 200 1st St., with a holiday marketplace, a winery row, Santa photos, reindeer and performances. The tree lights at 5:30 p.m.
• Date to be announced: The greenway ribbon cutting, which the city says will follow completion in late fall.

Until then, the Oct. 14 update stands. Paving is coming, switchback concrete was on the October schedule, and the trail south from Roehr Park still ends at the river bend.

Lake Oswego's riverfront is about to change how downtown and Old Town connect, and that's the kind of local detail Rebecca Lee Real Estate builds into every campaign we run here. If your home is within walking distance of the new greenway and you'd like to know what that access is worth, Request a Luxury Consultation & Market Valuation.