Chasing down red herrings: Paradise Lane & McKay Drive

Spent way too long today chasing down these red herrings, but I did finally get them ruled out by the 1928 Metsker map that shows the CRH running on the west side of the tracks through here.

True, this could be a remainder of the pre-1920-ish Portland Road through here, so later research may put this page back up on the site.  If not, it will live here as an "early draft."

PARADISE LANE & MCKAY DRIVE

Route 2

Ruled Out

March 25, 2020

I'll probably just delete this page after ruling out McKay Drive, but it does provide an interesting look at the process I use on charting out the original highway, starting with Google Earth and lidar (if applicable) to identify likely suspects and to plan future field trips to confirm or reject the grades and roads as old CRH. Left out of the process, here, is looking at period maps, but those are not easily accessible to me at the moment.

Originally, I mapped out the major surviving fragments by just getting out on the highways and driving, spotting the roads and exploring. The major sections of the old route are pretty obvious if you know what to look for.

It's these sorts of bits and pieces fragments around the new and improved modern highways that are a lot more difficult to sort out.

Tiny section of possible old pavement on Paradise Lane (v.007) Google Earth Imagery Date: May 8, 2019

Above, there is a very interesting looking patch of possible old pavement on Paradise Lane, just west of W. Lane Road that I spotted while looking for Taylor's "Mile 22.8" fragment on Google Earth.

However, a quick look at the location in Google Street View almost immediately rules it out. Clearly, the grading shows that this is overflow parking for the church and not a relic of the original highway.

Paradise Lane suspect in Street View Google Street View Imagery Date: July 2018

I am only mentioning McKay Drive, which I wondered about long before spotting the Paradise Lane pavement, as a rule out. The south end, before the curve, is a better possibility than the north end, after it curves away from modern US 30 to meet with W. Lane Road.

Modern US 30 between Scappoose and the Old Portland Road into St. Helens feels way too straight for me. On the other hand, Old Portland Road itself, which is confirmed to be original highway, is pretty straight too.

Also, I am not seeing any clear paths for the original alignment coming into the north end of this short road.

Bottom line, McKay Drive is probably not original CRH, but I still want to check it out on the ground before I rule it out.

The south end makes this road look likely, but the north end goes no where... (v.007) Google Earth Imagery Date: May 8, 2019

A final possibility here comes from looking at the alignment of the south end of McKay Road, Paradise Lane, and the road on the highway side of the cemetery just south of Honeyman Creek (below).
McKay Drive. Probably not CRH, but curious enough to need to be ruled out (v.007)
Google Earth Imagery Date: May 8, 2019

While I suspect that if these were all parts of the original highway they would remain connected as a continuous frontage road, who know? Stranger things have happened over the years, and it is all worth checking out on the ground, making a few quick stops on the way west to more certain territory.

Cemetery and Honeyman Creek (v.007)  Google Earth Imagery Date: May 8, 2019