Down by the riverside.

Byline: Jeff Wright The Register-Guard

Like Michelle Martin's belly, the popularity of Eugene's riverbank trail system just keeps growing and growing.

Martin, 33, is training for her first marathon - and her first baby. "I don't know what to expect for either," she says, laughing.

One of Martin's favorite running routes is the 12-mile Ruth Bascom Riverbank Trail System, part of which hugs the Eugene Water & Electric Board offices where Martin works. Martin, who is four months into her pregnancy and today will toe the line at the Newport Marathon, says she's used the system for everything from lunch-hour walks to long training runs.

The best part? Why, the proximity of the Willamette River, of course. "It's right there, and it's just absolutely beautiful," says Martin, of Springfield. "To me, it's peaceful. Every time I go run there, I think, `I'm so lucky to live here!' '

Springtime weather, traffic-clogging construction work and an influx of visitors - including competitors and fans for today's Prefontaine Classic track meet - are likely to ensure plenty of use along the system's four branches.

Those who haven't used the system in awhile will see some new amenities - quarter-mile markers implanted in the sidewalk and color-coded by path: yellow for the South Bank Trail, green for the North Bank Trail, orange for the West Bank Trail and blue for the East Bank Trail, the last leg completed in early 2003.

Each thermoplastic marker identifies the path name and provides mileage from the Greenway Bike Bridge, located near Valley River Center.

The brainchild behind the markers: Tod Schneider, a crime prevention specialist with the Eugene Police Department. Schneider, who studies ways to reduce crime through environmental design, says the markers give people another way to quickly let police know their whereabouts or those of someone else in peril.

Beyond that, they also provide an easy way for people to measure how far they've bicycled, walked or skated.

"The more an environment works for the people you want using it, the less it's going to attract undesirable behavior," Schneider says. "The best way to make an environment safer is to get good people using it."

It works for Courtney Smith, a University of Oregon doctoral student who has run four marathons. "I really enjoy running there because there's always other people there, so there's that feeling of safety," she says.

Smith says she likes the markers "because it feels like you're on a course. You can measure your distance, and sense where you are." She also likes the system's lack of motorized traffic, the scattered water fountains, the fact that some of the route is in the shade and the presence of five different crossings. "You can create so many loops with so many bridges - from a 2-miler to a 21-miler," she says.

Paul Moore of Eugene, an avid bicyclist, says he's more enamored of another amenity added last fall: two informational maps showing the entire system and services available along the route. One is located just south of the Greenway Bike Bridge; the other can be found at the foot of the stairs from the DeFazio Bicycle Bridge in Alton Baker Park.

Moore says he's been clamoring for such maps for years, and would like to see more.

"What keeps people from heading out somewhere is not being sure if they can ride their bike there," he says. "Those maps begin to familiarize people, so they stretch out a little further. They think, `I see where this connects, I'll take a chance on it.' '

No one knows for sure how many people are using the system. The last time the city did a tally, in October 2000, as many as 1,300 bicyclists were counted passing a single point over a 24-hour period.

"And that was just bicyclists," says Lee Shoemaker, the city's new bicycle and pedestrian coordinator. "We may have as many walkers as bike riders."

Shoemaker says he assumes usage has gone up in the 4 1/2 years since, if you consider a growing population, more development around the path and the completion of the East Bank Trail.

Another person who uses the trails regularly - about once a week in the summer months, she says - is the system's namesake, former Eugene Mayor Ruth Bascom.

"I just think the river is glorious and belongs to everyone," says Bascom, who championed the idea of a bicycle loop around the river for several decades. "It's well-used, and that's very gratifying."

CAPTION(S):

Michelle Martin of Springfield, who is four months' pregnant and training to run her first marathon, says she regularly uses the Ruth Bascom Riverbank Trail System for training runs and lunch-hour walks near her workplace. Stephanie Barrow / The Register-Guard 2005 PREFONTAINE CLASSIC Meet: Hayward Field, 1 p.m. Inside: Alan Webb knows 2-mile will require record run / B1