The city of Portland on Wednesday will begin a planning effort to connect the Bayside Trail to the Portland Transportation Center at Thompson’s Point.

The meeting, which will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the first floor meeting room at the Portland Expo, 239 Park Ave., will be the public’s first opportunity to comment on potential pathways to connect the Bayside Trail’s future terminus at Forest Avenue to the Fore River Parkway at Thompson’s Point.

The city said in a news release that the new pathway would “close an important gap in an envisioned pathway network to connect together much of the Portland peninsula and neighboring communities.”

Final designs are expected to be completed next fall.