The half-mile gap includes State Route 104 (NE 205th Street/Edmonds Way), and most trail users trying to transverse it use Meridian Avenue N, which turns into 76th Avenue north of the county line. That street is fairly unpleasant for people on bikes to use, with narrow painted bike lanes on the curb that disappear near the busy intersection with 205th Street. But there are few alternatives, apart from navigating on- and off-ramps from a narrow sidewalk alongside State Route 99.

North Sound Bicycle Advocates, rebranding after 30 years as Edmonds Bicycle Advocacy Group, wants to finally fill in the gap. Recently the group has been holding walking tours to help local elected officials visualize what would be required — and the big opportunity that such a project represents. If fully connected, Shoreline residents would be able to more easily access the new light rail station in Mountlake Terrace and businesses along SR 99. Edmonds residents would have better connections to transit connections in King County like the E Line.

“We see that the Interurban trail is kind of this spine that hasn’t met its full potential, say the way that Burke-Gilman has, or even the way that Eastrail is developing on the east side,” Gordon Black, a member of the North Sound Bicycle Advocates board and an Edmonds resident, told The Urbanist. “And consequently, until we get the gap between Shoreline and Edmonds taken care of, and indeed the one further north on Maple Road, which is just to the east of Alderwood, the Interurban isn’t really going to be the regional trail that it really should be.”

Earlier this year, the engineering consultant group Toole Design provided a high level concept that looked at what is potentially the most feasible place for a trail connection to cross SR 104. A bridge over the highway near Wallingford Avenue N only needs to be around 80 feet long to make the connection, compared to as much as 200 feet at other spots.

South of that bridge, the trail could run along the quiet neighborhood streets of Wallingford Avenue N and N 200th Street, and north of there it would run along the highway right of way and connect up to unused former Interurban right-of-way, now owned by Snohomish County Public Utility District (PUD). So far, the leadership at the PUD is on board with the idea of reconnecting the trail through there.

The next step is funding a full study, likely looking at this Wallingford Avenue alternative, but also several other possibilities, including a potential tunnel under the highway. Completing that study is set to cost anywhere from $150,000 to $200,000, but North Sound Bicycle Advocates has already secured commitments from both the City of Shoreline and King County, through Councilmember Rod Dembowski.

“I am optimistic, that working with our partner jurisdictions, we can reconnect this critical regional corridor,” Dembowski wrote on his official Facebook page after touring the gap with advocates in early May. Next the group is seeking similar commitments from Snohomish County and the City of Edmonds.

“None of the right-of-way in Edmonds is in unincorporated Snohomish County, it’s all within the boundary of the City of Edmonds. But given that part of the right-of-way further north does go through unincorporated Snohomish County, there is obviously a county interest in seeing this as a regional asset,” Black said.

Shoreline has proven itself adept at securing federal grant funding for transportation investments, with a $20 million U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) grant last year leading to the start of construction on a new pedestrian bridge at the forthcoming N 148th Street light rail station, which will connect directly to the station by 2026. Meanwhile, just last month, King County secured a $25 million grant to complete the last major segment of the 42-mile Eastrail in Bellevue, with a renovation of an existing steel rail bridge over I-90.

With most of the Interurban trail already open and ready to serve trail users, this project to fill in the longstanding gap likely offers some of the biggest bang-for-its-buck of any trail projects in either Snohomish or King County, and local leaders — especially those south of the county line — seem to be all-in.

If it happens, this relatively small project would have a big impact on opening up access to the bike superhighway network that would enable more people to be able to get around without a car, especially those who do not live within walking distance of the planned light rail network.

“People have definitely shown a preference for riding on segregated trails or bike paths. Burke-Gilman, Eastrail and all those trails indicate there is an appetite for safe, segregated cycling,” Black said. “And the Interurban offers part of that, but it doesn’t offer it enough.”

The post Advocates Push to Close Half-Mile Gap in Interurban Trail first appeared on The Urbanist.

Made of pre-fabricated steel trusses, the exterior of the bridge is screened from the road by perforated aluminum panels. Ramps on either end add up to over double the length of the 200-foot bridge itself. Stairways connecting directly with the lower level of the light rail station on one side of NE 8th Street and the RapidRide B Line bus stop on the other were included as part of the bridge’s design, but were yet to open as of the ribbon-cutting.

Like much of Eastrail, the bridge will be owned and operated by King County Parks, and it was mostly funded via the 2015 county parks levy. However, the project also received $3 million in system access funding from Sound Transit, which opened the 2 Line a few feet away from the new bridge on April 27. So far, the line has seen ridership of around 4,000 trips per day, but much higher levels are expected once the line fully opens to Seattle, which was delayed by construction defects along I-90.

“By tying Eastrail and the Wilburton neighborhood to this new light rail station, the community now has an alternative to being stuck in traffic with all the negative consequences, whether it’s expensive gas or parking — you don’t need to drive,” Goran Sparrman, Sound Transit’s interim CEO told the crowd at Sunday’s ribbon cutting. “So the bottom line is this, we have to prioritize the local vision on the ground for projects like this to complement what my agency is doing and delivering on the very large scale capital projects, i.e. extending the Link light rail system, in order to really see the true vision that this region has articulated for a long time come to pass.”

Apart from providing an invaluable new connection, the construction of the NE 8th Street bridge has also been leveraged as an opportunity to highlight the history of Bellevue’s Japanese-American community, which has deep roots in Wilburton and the surrounding neighborhoods. Prior to World War II, people of Japanese descent composed 15% of Bellevue’s population and 90% of the city’s agricultural workforce. The Wilburton light rail station is located on top of the former home of the Bellevue Growers Association’s packing house, the only place on the Eastside where Japanese farmers were allowed to distribute produce.

In 1942, following the Pearl Harbor attacks and the declaration of war with Japan, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s signed Executive Order 9066, which relocated Bellevue’s entire Japanese population to an internment camp near Fresno, California. But anti-Japanese sentiment in Bellevue extended much further back in history, with Miller Freeman, the grandfather of Bellevue Square developer Kemper Freeman, founding Washington’s Anti-Japanese League in 1916. For decades, that history has mostly been swept under the rug in Bellevue, with the artwork being put in place here a big step toward shining a light on those past injustices.

King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci described the path to creating space at the new bridge for the history of Bellevue’s Japanese-American community to be told. “When we asked community members ‘what [are] the stories you want to tell,’ we heard three things consistently: tell the story of the contributions of the early residents of Bellevue who are Japanese-American citizens and immigrants who helped to create this city. Tell the story of incarceration due to racism, don’t let people forget that story. And then send the message, over and over, of never again — a resonant message,” Balducci said.

“I remember being in the room when we had the first visioning process with the artists where we asked them to celebrate and commemorate the history of our Japanese-Americans in Bellevue. And we wanted to celebrate the businesses, the farms, the families, the people who raise their families here. But we also felt it was very important to recognize the history in Bellevue,” Bellevue Mayor Lynne Robinson said. “And this that you see here today, are these artists’ stories, and it is their truth. And for the many Japanese-Americans who were forced to leave their farms, their businesses, their homes, and somehow when they came back, if they came back, they were asked to be silent. This is their truth.”

Taking the lead on creating the artwork for the bridge was the Bellevue Japanese American Legacy Project, which helped select Lauren Iida, Akiko Sogabe, and Lawrence Matsuda as the specific artists whose work has been featured in the “mixing zone” north of the bridge itself.

Eastrail is not slated to see another grand opening for a few years, as the final segments come together. Just a few weeks ago, King County celebrated the groundbreaking of the next major project that will bring the trail south, the Wilburton Trestle. That $37 million project, rehabilitating a railroad bridge from 1904, is set to open in 2026, and — in conjunction with a new bridge over I-405 being built by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) — will get Eastrail tantalizingly close to completion. In the meantime, the new bridge will be a godsend for anyone traveling by bike or foot in Bellevue trying to avoid NE 8th Street.

In the coming days, the U.S. Department of Transportation will announce whether King County has been awarded $25 million for a planned bridge over Interstate 90 that will fill in the final gap. (Update: the $25 million was secured, US Senator Patty Murray announced Monday.) Even with that award, the trail is not expected to be open for use until at least 2030. But segment by segment, the pieces are falling into place on what will be one of the best intercity trail connections in Washington State when it’s finally complete.

The post Eastrail’s NE 8th Street Bridge Opens in Bellevue’s Wilburton Neighborhood first appeared on The Urbanist.

These changes are part of the first major overhaul to parks regulations in 40 years, and in many ways bring rules into alignment with how trails are already used. The fact that e-bikes and e-scooters are currently banned on the county’s extensive and growing network of multi-use trails isn’t widely known, but existing county law doesn’t currently have any carveout for these fast-growing modes and treats them the same as motor vehicles.

Due to a quirk in federal law, e-scooters will continue to be banned on two King County trails, because their construction was funded via federal highway dollars: the central segment of the East Lake Sammamish Trail, and a portion of the Lake to Sound Trail between Renton and Des Moines. But on the rest of the 175-mile county trail network, both e-scooters and e-bikes will be allowed, with the director of King County Parks and Recreation given the authority to restrict them in specific instances if a need arises. Segments of trails where e-scooters are not allowed are set to see new signage.

Only Class 1 and Class 2 e-bikes will be allowed on trails, a policy that aligns with state law and current policy in cities like Seattle. Class 3 e-bikes, which can go up to 28 miles per hour, would continue to be banned. But a 15 mph speed limit for all trail users will still apply regardless of mode.

The bill also gives the director of King County Parks the authority to expand the hours of operation of individual county trails, moving beyond the current framework where trails close to the public 30 minutes after sunset and reopen 30 minutes prior to sunrise. For a county trail network that is intended to exist as a real transportation option for people to be able to get around without a car, restricting operating hours is a severe limiting factor, but this issue has gone unaddressed for years.

“We have invested a lot of money in our regional trails, and we are rightly very proud of our growing regional trail system. The voters have supported it with their votes on parks levies, and we routinely talk about trails as being roads or highways, or even superhighways, for non-motorized means of transport,” King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci said Tuesday ahead of the vote.

Balducci’s district is home to the growing Eastrail corridor, and she noted that residents are increasingly relying on the trail network to get around.

“But for people who depend on this growing trail network, to get to work, school, or do trips with transit, this is not possible, especially when you think about the middle of winter when the sun rises around 8:00am and sets before 5,” Balducci said. “Our roads are open 24/7, and our trails are barely open eight hours during the winter.”

Two years ago, the City of Kirkland approved expanded hours of operation on a central segment of Eastrail that is city-operated — the Cross-Kirkland Corridor — from 5:00am to 11:00pm every day, with city leaders citing a desire to expand the trail’s potential as a transportation spine as they try and increase the amount of walking and biking trips made in Kirkland. In Seattle, the Burke-Gilman Trail is open until 11:30pm every day, but the moment that a trail user crosses the city limit to the north and the trail becomes is managed by King County, trail hours are much more limited.

Now those hours have the ability to change, but thanks to an amendment approved Tuesday and sponsored by Balducci, the county will need to go even further and prepare a feasibility study looking at how it may potentially expand operating hours on its trail network.

“We’re not asking parks to immediately expand the hours, but to come up with a process and steps we would take in order to prioritize regional trails for pilots, permanently expanded operating hours, or both,” Balducci explained. That report will be due next year, in advance of a formal proposal for the county’s next parks levy, which would potentially fund some of the improvements needed to expand trail hours, like lighting.

“It’s more complicated than it seems. I would love to just say they’re open all the time, but we need to work through a number of issues, including legal issues, safety issues, cost and investment that would be needed to make our trails really fully open,” Balducci said.

Many of the legal issues at play stem from what’s called recreational immunity, a provision of state law that holds that property owners can’t be held liable for injuries that occur when a recreational facility is used — immunity that doesn’t apply when a court finds that the facility was being used for transportation. Extending trail operating hours could potentially open up the county to additional liability if steps aren’t taken to ensure that trail users are protected.

Jurisdictions around Puget Sound continue to work to improve and expand their walking and biking networks. Updating the policies of the area’s biggest trail operator so that they make sense for today’s world is a big step forward for non-motorized travel across the region — and one that’s long overdue.

The post King County Will Allow E-bikes on Regional Trails, May Expand Hours first appeared on The Urbanist.

A $2 million donation from REI and Meta in 2020 was able to make the connection happen much sooner than it would have with county funding alone. That cash promise came as Meta finalized a $367 million deal to take over REI’s former headquarters in the Spring District, expanding its presence in Bellevue and signaling that the company had a stake in seeing the vision for the Eastrail walking and biking corridor come to full realization.

“The Northup Connector… it’s one of those projects where, once it’s been built, you’re like, ‘Oh, this wasn’t here forever? How could we not think to do this from the very beginning,” Vicky Clarke, policy director with Cascade Bicycle Club, told The Urbanist. “The fact that it connects this north-south spine with the east-west spine of 520, is huge.”

The private donations from Meta and REI covered all but $500,000 of the project’s cost, with that gap filled thanks to pushing from County Councilmember Cluadia Balducci, who has been an ardent advocate for the Eastrail corridor. Construction was handled not by King County, which will now manage the infrastructure, but by Eastrail Partners, the nonprofit advocacy organization that works to complete the 42-mile planned trail stretching from Renton to Woodinville and Redmond. Without outside assistance, the project wasn’t set to be completed until the latter part of this decade, as King County prioritized other projects as part of its 2020 Parks and Open Spaces levy.

“Their investment spurred the type of public-private partnership that we want to continue to make happen for this trail, and for our regional trails,” Katherine Hollis, Eastrail Partners’ executive director said. “Because of this partnership between us as a community nonprofit, corporations and government, this connector was completed years before it was planned to be, and on budget.”

“I believe that government does its best work when we listen to people when they come to us with the things that they need, and the good ideas they have for us, and we are responsive and nimble in doing what people are telling us would work for them,” Councilmember Balducci said Friday before the ribbon-cutting, referencing the well-worn path that existed before. “That was people — many, many people with their feet, telling us this was an important connection.”

The Northup Connector sets the stage for a big year for Eastrail in 2024, as the opening of the NE 8th Street overcrossing in Bellevue coincides with the opening of partial service on Sound Transit’s East Link (2 Line) light rail expansion, with Wilburton Station immediately next door. Earlier this year, Kirkland celebrated the grand opening of its Totem Lake Connector, which grade separates what was one of the trickiest crossings along Eastrail, and the City of Woodinville started work on the conversion of what will become the last segment of Eastrail heading into Snohomish County.

Private donations from companies with a stake in seeing Eastrail completed are not just happening with the Northup Connector. In 2021, Amazon announced that it would be donating $7.5 million to complete the conversion of the Wilburton Trestle bridge, one of the most expensive portions of the Eastrail in Bellevue and a key connection in finally connecting to the segment that’s already open heading down to Renton.

“I think the Eastrail is the poster child for how public and private can come together to get behind a vision, and be united, and really joins forces with their resources to build things faster,” Clarke said. “The thing about Eastrail is that it’s the last rails-to-trails project in the region, and it’s really expensive. It’s costing a lot of money to do these local connections, but the connections are what make it great. Being able to leverage the resources that are in the community through the private sector is just going to make it happen faster.”

The post Northup Connector Opens, Offering Direct Connection Between Eastrail and 520 Trail first appeared on The Urbanist.

The first interim section of a trail along the east side of Lake Sammamish opened in 2006, after the County purchased the former rail line in 1998. But pushback from owners of properties along the proposed route resulted in years spent in court, with the end result a request for the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the issue of whether the county had the right to build the trail. The nation’s highest court declined, and the City of Sammamish finally issued a permit in 2019 allowing work to start.

That long legal battle calls to mind a similar decades-long fight to complete the final gap of Seattle’s Burke-Gilman trail in Ballard, a battle that the city appears ready to concede to industrial property owners. Along Lake Sammamish, however, there was a happy ending.

“This is a really big deal, you all,” King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci told the gathered crowd. “This trail has been actively in the making for 26 years…this is a testament to perseverance, to teamwork, to partnership, to never giving up on a dream. And here we are today finally at the finish line able to enjoy it so it couldn’t be better.”

Balducci attributed completion of the final trail to several key figures in the history of county government, including former County Councilmember Jane Hague, and former County Executive Ron Sims.

In 2000, the Sims administration made the call that the county would not pursue an alternate routing that would put the East Lake Sammamish Trail on streets away from the lakefront, appeasing waterfront homeowners. At the time, elected officials inside Sammamish city government were unhappy with that decision, deferential toward property owners, with the county council divided on the issue. “It’s nothing less than a marvelous opportunity,” Sims told the Seattle Times in 2003. “I’m not backing off this.”

“Decades of planning, decades of investments, decades of construction are aligning to produce tangible results for the people of King County with paved trails connected to high capacity transit,” County Executive Dow Constantine told onlookers gathered to watch the ribbon on the completed trail get severed. “There are an awful lot of elected officials who worked over the course of generations to make this happen.”

The trail’s completion puts Redmond, and its forthcoming light rail stations, at the center of a hub of existing and planned regional trails, including the Sammamish River trail and the 520 trail. Redmond’s Central Connector trail, which runs directly through downtown, will ultimately connect to the 42-mile Eastrail corridor that’s under construction in several places right now. Earlier this summer, work started in Woodinville to create the final section needed to connect these trails with planned trail network segments in Snohomish County.

“This is a key component in reducing the need to drive. It’s going to be connected to light rail, literally a block away from here,” Redmond Mayor Angela Birney said. “It also serves as a gateway to access local businesses…and connects our neighborhoods. It also symbolizes our commitment to building a better, more connected, and more sustainable future for ourselves and the future residents and communities that will come to this area.”

“A fully connected East Lake Sammamish Trail will play a key role in providing access to the Marymoor Village Station when it opens in 2025,” Kelli Refer, executive director of Move Redmond, told The Urbanist. “The Eastside is really highlighting the potential of trails as a way to access transit. Between the East Lake Sammamish connection, the Redmond Central Connector and the Eastrail people will have great bike access to the East Link Light Rail. This trail is a safe, all-ages facility connecting the communities of Redmond, Sammamish and Issaquah for all kinds of trips.”

Before long, the completed East Lake Sammamish trail will likely blend into the background of the region’s transportation network, well-loved by the people who come to depend on it. But the collective vision put forward by leaders, most of whom are long since out of elective office, will pay dividends for years to come.

The post East Lake Sammamish Trail Bridges Redmond to Issaquah After Decades of Work first appeared on The Urbanist.

Earlier this month, Woodinville officials joined U.S. Representative Suzan DelBene (D-1st District) in celebrating the removal of a “golden spike” along a long-neglected stretch of former railway near growing downtown Woodinville, marking the symbolic start of work on what will eventually become the northernmost segment of the 42-mile Eastrail multiuse trail corridor. The City had already started work on rail tie removal along the corridor, following approval of the segment’s “railbanked” status earlier this year. Railbanking allows an indefinite interim trail use, with the potential for rail uses returning to the property never off the table.

Representative DelBene came bearing a check for $2.5 million, which will add to earlier funding secured to replace an aging trestle bridge over State Route 202 in downtown Woodinville, creating a newly remade “welcome mat” into the city. The trail will also allow users to avoid the state highway below, which is being widened from four to eight lanes. The $17 million project has also received funding from the Move Ahead Washington transportation package and is expected to be fully funded soon.

Design work on the broader trail in Woodinville is scheduled to start next year, with construction to start in 2027. In the meantime, plans to open major segments of Eastrail in Bellevue by 2025 will keep the corridor moving forward. The numerous jurisdictions in charge of different segments has led to out-of-alignment timelines, but ultimately Eastrail will come together as one unified corridor.

Leaders in Woodinville have been touting the potential for Eastrail’s arrival in the city to change the way people get around, and have made securing funding for the project a top legislative priority.

“It really connects the north end of town to the south end, behind Chateau Ste. Michelle, and on to Kirkland, Redmond and Bellevue, as well,” Woodinville Mayor Mike Millman told The Urbanist. “And so it connects a lot of our neighbors to a very sustainable trail, and offers commuting opportunities, because we have a lot of tech workers here that work at Google, Microsoft, Amazon, maybe even Boeing on down in Renton. So a lot of people have expressed excitement about being able to commute.”

Colin Petkus, who is community collaborations manager with Eastrail Partners (the nonprofit created to galvanize this trail effort), agreed and pointed to broader connectivity.

“I think there’s been a lot of focus on Eastrail connecting Bellevue and Kirkland and the tech hub there…and I feel like with the ceremony we had in Woodinville, we’re really thinking about the other parts of this trail, which is the broader regional connectivity,” Petkus told The Urbanist. “It’s kind of a lot of these disparate projects. It’s easy to lose track of the fact that the end result of all of this that we’re starting to build into now is the connection all the way from Arlington, on the existing Centennial Trail through a lot of rural Snohomish County, right into the heart of downtown Woodinville.”

“Personally, as the mayor of Woodinville, it’s been frustrating to me that we’re the last and largest section of the Eastrail corridor to get working on this, and that is one of the reasons why I worked so hard on this…we shouldn’t be last,” Millman said. He touted the potential for Woodinville to be able to create linear parks along the trail right-of-way, something Kirkland has created a regional template for with its eye-popping Feriton Spur Park, which includes an outpost of Chainline Brewing.

Kirkland has been hard at work on its segment of Eastrail, the Cross Kirkland Corridor, opening a new flagship bridge over a massive intersection near Totem Lake earlier this year.

In Woodinville, the city is considering how to integrate things like pickleball or basketball courts, and water features for kid’s play. With downtown Woodinville poised for tremendous growth in housing over the coming decade, demand for parks and public spaces from new residents will pair well with the potential opportunities that come with Eastrail.

On the Snohomish County side of the border, work to bridge a sizeable gap between Woodinville and Snohomish is also moving forward, but snags around property rights issues have been slowing things down. The Snohomish County Council approved a purchase agreement around the right-of-way from the Port of Seattle in 2016, but the project has remained underfunded. This month, Snohomish County submitted a request for a $7.2 million planning grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation as part of the Reconnecting Communities program.

That grant would allow the county to get the entire 12-mile segment to 90% design, fully-shovel ready. “This project is a high priority for residents of Snohomish County and is of regional significance,” the County Council wrote in a letter of support. “We see this project as a critical link between the two most significant trail systems in Snohomish and King Counties, connecting hundreds of miles of trails and dozens of communities throughout the region.”

With work starting in Woodinville, the full picture of the Eastrail vision is coming more into focus, and its goals around providing transportation connections as alternatives for trips that make the most sense right now in a car.

“Obviously, we’re happy to have people who already know about the trails want to use them,” Petkus said. “But I think the demographic that we’re really excited about is the people who don’t realize this trail’s coming to their area, maybe don’t currently do active transportation, or aren’t currently recreating along much of the trail system, who might say, hey, well, you know, now I can get from my neighborhood to my job or to my school or to my community to the business districts.”

As more segments of Eastrail open, its use as a clear alternative to the state highway system will become more and more apparent.

“[Y]ou build connected infrastructure [and] that goes from being just something that recreational cyclists who already feel comfortable riding on the roads might use or people might drive to really being essential infrastructure that allows all ages and abilities to use trails as part of their transit picture.”

The post Woodinville Works to Extend Eastrail to Snohomish County first appeared on The Urbanist.

On Resources Radio‘s From Rails to Trails, Peter Harnik discusses how nonprofits, local stakeholders, and policymakers convert abandoned railroad lines into multi-use recreational trails with Resources Radio Senior Fellow Margaret Walls. Harnik is cofounder of the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, and founder of the Center for City Park Excellence.

Washington State’s Burke-Gilman Trail is one of the earliest rail-trails, and the Palouse to Cascades Trail and the Olympic Discovery Trail, which will eventually expand to connect via a coast-to-coast trail, are important examples of the challenges and successes of this active transportation and popular outdoor recreation resource.

 Republished with permission from Resources Radio, which is produced by Elizabeth Wason, with music by Daniel Raimi.

The post Guest Podcast: Recycling America’s Railroads into Trails first appeared on The Urbanist.

A shared enthusiasm for trail networks and the unique recreational opportunities the Olympic Peninsula offers set the tone for this year’s in-person board convening of the national Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) in Sequim. RTC is based in the other Washington, Washington DC, and the 135-mile Olympic Discovery Trail is what lured them here.

The Olympic Discovery Trail (ODT) stretches from Port Townsend to La Push across lush forests, alongside mountains, farms, and shorelines, and in 2019 it was designated by RTC as the official western end of their 3,700-mile, 12-state, multi-use trail corridor, called the Great American Rail-Trail.

A Jamestown S’Klallam welcome was given by Theresa Lehman, Tribal Council Treasurer. Attending the receptions hosted by RTC at the Jamestown S”Klallam Tribe’s 7 Cedars Hotel and Red Cedar Hall at the Tribal Center were local trail advocates – the Peninsula Trails Coalition, the newly formed Puget Sound to Pacific Collaborative, Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation, the Washington Backcountry Horsemen, Sequim Wheelmen’s Adaptive Bike Program, Ian McKay (Ian’s Ride), Cascade Bicycle Club, Washington Trails Association  – Washington Representative Steve Tharinger, Clallam and Jefferson County councilmembers, tribal representatives, and many others.

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, a national voice for trails since 1986, visited the Puget Sound region to also bestow Governor Jay Inslee with the annual Doppelt Family Rail-Trail Champion award for 2023. State Parks Commissioner Sophia Danenberg praised the Governor’s work on the trail system.

“Governor Inslee has forged a legacy – and it is the state’s trails and parks,” Danenberg said. “Trails and parks are a nexus of cultural, natural, and economic values. Trails welcome all – regardless of age or ability.”

Danenberg noted this wasn’t the only trail to see improvements.

“The Governor has considered the parks as being complementary and not competitive to development and his support has helped fund important trail gaps like the rebuilding of the Palouse to Cascades Beverly Bridge and the Teko and Renslow Trestles, and the Olympic Discovery Trail through Jefferson County’s Anderson Lake State Park,” she added.

In their news release, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy noted the importance of trails to the climate work for which the Governor has become known.

“For decades, Governor Inslee has championed the role of trails in addressing significant challenges facing our communities – building climate resilience, generating economic development and delivering quality of life,” said RTC President Ryan Chao.

“He has leveraged his position to raise the financial and political capital needed to unlock incredibly difficult projects that are transformative for the people they serve, the regions they connect and the entire nation,” Chao added. “He is raising the bar for the country’s elected officials, while showcasing how integral trail and active transportation networks are in addressing the intertwined issues of climate change and our country’s economic future.”

Trail work is a throughline in Inslee’s career.

“Governor Inslee’s dedication to the state’s trail system, and the impact that trail connectivity can deliver for the well-being of people, places and the planet, began when he was a state legislator, and has continued in his role as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and now as governor. Most recently, Governor Inslee championed a $1.3 billion investment for active transportation and trail projects under the Move Ahead Washington program, the largest investment in trails, walking and biking in the state’s history, as part of plans to accelerate the development and connectivity of transportation infrastructure across the state,” Chao said.

Many people in attendance noted numerous times the need to be working together which makes everyone’s efforts stronger. A highlighted effort to demonstrate the reach and depth of this kind of collaborating is the newly formed, Puget Sound to the Pacific Collaborative (Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation, Peninsula Trails Coalition, North Kitsap Trails Association) which have applied for a competitive federal Department of Transportation RAISE grant.

In March 2023, The Urbanist reported on this RAISE grant application. “Filling the gaps would unite two separate regional trails on either side of the Hood Canal Bridge: the Olympic Discovery trail in Jefferson and Clallam Counties, and the Sound to Olympics trail in Kitsap County. If awarded, the $16.2 million request would fund planning and design on 34 separate segments to create a single trail that is being called the Puget Sound to Pacific Trail.”

The City of Port Angeles is the lead applicant. The full application can be found at: www.ps2p.org. Awardees will be announced shortly on June 28.

A few key shifts in thinking about multi-use trail networks were also discussed. For example, the pandemic prompted people seeking safe and healthy activities to use area trails of all kinds — which they did in droves. This new interest is key to raising the profile of trails as essential to human well-being – for good health, mental renewal, time in nature, to reconnect with family and friends, and more.

“Multi-use trails are catalysts for change because they show us how we can live better by connecting communities, being valued economic amenities for residents and visitors alike, and, most importantly, for providing safe, additional active transportation for all regardless of age or ability,” said Washington Trails Association’s CEO Jaime Loucky. “It’s time to look at the bigger picture, at landscapes and systems, that serve many purposes and the needs of those nearby.”

Recently, the group published a new study, called the Hike, Bike, Walk Study, to better illustrate the values of trails, landscapes and the economy.

Many of those attending this convening of multi-use trails advocates, agencies, jurisdictions, and others, had nothing but awe-inducing things to say about the Olympic Discovery Trail and the north Olympic Peninsula. Locals like Jefferson County Commissioner Heidi Eisenhour get to enjoy the natural beauty all the time.

“This gathering has been another opportunity to shed light on the trail’s values, most importantly, that it is accessible to everyone,” Eisenhour said. “I love the trail for my own health and for the time outdoors that I enjoy while on the trail.”

Peninsula Trails Coalition Board President Jeff Bohman added, “Back in 2019 when Rails-to-Trails Conservancy added the Olympic Discovery Trail as the official west end of the Great American Rail-Trail, its beauty and values became more well-known. Our group has been helping to develop this trail for almost 35 years. With the encouragement and help from Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, we were able to join with Bainbridge Island multi-use trails advocates and government entities to create the Puget Sound to the Pacific Collaborative and to apply for the USDOT RAISE grant which will help us close the trail gaps between the Hood Canal and further west to help complete the remaining Olympic Discovery Trail gaps all the way to La Push.”

As the state continues to develop more extensive trail networks it is clear that we are all lucky beneficiaries of these gems. We are very fortunate, as a state, to also have an active transportation office as part of our Washington State Department of Transportation. (WSDOT). Featured at the award ceremony was a panel that included, WSDOT’s Active Transportation Director Barbara Chamberlain, Cascade Bicycle Club’s Policy Director Vicky Clarke, and Washington Trails Association’s CEO Jaime Loucky. One takeaway from this talk about multi-use trail networks is the need for more investment.

“We are enjoying the trails and we are passionate, but we also need the dollars,” Clarke said. “We need local governments, the corporations – and all ways possible – to support the trails that we love.”

This week’s Rails-to-Trails Conservancy visit took place on the lands of the Jamestown S’Klallam, with visits to the homes of the Lower Elwha, Chimakum, the Quileute, and the Makah people, who have lived here since time immemorial.

Improvements to the 135-mile Olympic Discovery Trail will connect these lands and the people and natural beauty contained in them like never before.

The post Inslee Rides Olympic Bike Trail, Celebrates Expansion Plans first appeared on The Urbanist.

The request, submitted as part of the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant program, has the city of Port Angeles as its lead applicant, with five other cities, three counties, the Port of Port Townsend, the Quileute and Suquamish tribes, and the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) joining in the request to receive funding.

Filling the gaps would unite two separate regional trails on either side of the Hood Canal Bridge: the Olympic Discovery trail in Jefferson and Clallam Counties, and the Sound to Olympics trail in Kitsap County. If awarded, the $16.2 million request would fund planning and design on 34 separate segments to create a single trail that is being called the Puget Sound to Pacific Trail (PS2P).

The Puget Sound to Pacific Collaborative is an initiative of three nonprofit groups, the Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation, the North Kitsap Trails Association, and the Peninsula Trails Coalition, is bringing the governments together to request funding from the RAISE program, which is unique in that it does not require a local match. The collaborative’s director is Steve Durrant, a landscape architect specializing in active transportation projects.

“PS2P will provide nonmotorized access routes to destinations including the Pacific Coast and Olympic National Park for the more than 4 million people in the Seattle metropolitan area and visitors, who are just a ferry ride away from the beginning of the trail,” Durrant said in an announcement touting the application. “The completed PS2P will provide more opportunities for the health of children, underserved populations and the general public to have active lifestyles with safe and convenient active transportation infrastructure where few connected routes currently exist.”

By creating a full connection between the relatively rural population centers along the route, 90% of the population would be within three miles of being able to access a segment of the trail. “The trail segments are part of a larger cross-country and statewide trail network that enables a non-motorized tourist to travel from Seattle across Bainbridge Island, and the Kitsap and Olympic Peninsulas to the Pacific Coast over approximately 200 miles,” the grant application states.

The applicants have lined up a long list of supporters around the state pushing for the full trail’s completion. “This multi-use trail project will be an asset not just to the many counties, small towns and reservations, directly served, but also to the wider state of Washington,” Washington’s Commissioner of Public Lands, Hilary Franz, wrote in a letter of support to USDOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

“It’s our opinion that the physical boundaries that separate groups in the greater Seattle metro area are being made less significant by initiatives like this one, whereby residents will be able to easily and safely access the surrounding townships, parks, and recreation,” Jason Marqusee, the co-owner of Good Weather bike shop and restaurant in Seattle, wrote in a letter of support. “This is good for everyone; tourism grows, commerce is diversified and disseminated to new regions, and this area of the country can continue to grow in a healthy, desirable way.”

If the grant were awarded this year, cities and other jurisdictions (including tribes) along the route would be able to advance segments of the trail to different levels of planning and design, including bringing some up to 100% design-ready to put out to bid. The march to advance each segment has been carefully planned out by the coalition to meet the 2032 deadline for full expenditure, and so that is when riders would expect to see most of these segments completed.

Completing the missing links in the trail would also bring substantial benefits to local jurisdictions trying to improve mobility in their own communities. Bainbridge Island, where over five miles of new trail would be built, is focusing heavily on expanding its walking and biking network. This would expand the single mile of the Sound to Olympics Trail constructed on the island now. With a dedicated vehicle license fee going to active transportation projects across the island to create the spine of a trail running alongside State Route 509, the additional funding would pay dividends for the city’s trail network.

“Trails are touchpoints to so many of our values and goals – sustainability and connectivity, recreation and community health, climate resilience, preservation of our natural lands,” said Mary Meier, executive director of the Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation, following the application’s filing. “Even as we plan the [Sound to Olympics trail] across Bainbridge Island, it feels monumental to be part of this much larger, regional trail planning effort, alongside so many other communities.”

Awards for the RAISE grant program are expected by the end of June. President Biden’s 2024 proposed budget for USDOT includes an additional $60 million for the new active transportation investment program, a relatively puny amount for the entire nation but a potential source of additional construction funds for trail segments like the PS2P. Along with potential opportunities for regional grants, being awarded the RAISE grant would well position many governments in Western Washington to turn this vision into a reality. If it all comes together, it could be truly transformative for the entire state.

Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly listed Port Orchard, not Port Angeles, as the lead applicant on the RAISE grant.

The post Funding Request Would Plan 200-Mile Trail Connection At Seattle’s Doorstep first appeared on The Urbanist.

The centerpiece of the project is a 3-acre lid being constructed right now on top of girders spanning above the highway. The new parcel of open space will sit to the east of a new, nine-lane Montlake Boulevard also in the rebuild process. Right now, a temporary Montlake Boulevard sits on what will become open space. In the coming months, girders will extend to the west, allowing Montlake Boulevard to be reconstructed in its permanent position. To the east end of the lid, girders were installed in 2022 that will hold up a reconstructed 24th Avenue E and the westbound off-ramp from SR 520. Once all of the road girders are in place, construction of the lid itself will commence.

At Montlake Boulevard, a new transit center will take shape on the northeast corner of the lid, replacing the old Montlake freeway station in the center median of the highway, which closed in 2019. In contrast with the old, punishing environment, riders will soon board both east and westbound buses along a narrower, calmer roadway with its own dedicated access to SR 520 in either direction. Will it be as pleasant a place to hang out as its renderings suggest? Likely not. But it will provide a fairly seamless connection between northbound buses and buses heading on and off SR 520. Riders transferring from the 48 to the 255 to Kirkland, for example, will no longer have to cross the Montlake bridge twice to make a transfer.

Riders connecting to and from southbound buses, though, have a less seamless connection as they will have to head all the way down to E Roanoke Street to make their connections. That is due to the design of the new Montlake Boulevard failing to include any new pedestrian crossings between E Roanoke Street and E Shelby Street, just south of the Montlake Bridge. The omission emphasizes that vehicle throughput was the primary motivation for almost all elements of the project’s design.

Bike and Pedestrian “Land Bridge” To Take Shape

The lid is certainly the most significant new addition to Montlake, but the public’s attention might instead be drawn toward the bicycle and pedestrian “land bridge” to the east of the lid, connecting the SR 520 regional trail crossing the lake with the northern edge of Seattle’s arboretum. Unlike any pedestrian bridge in the city, the land bridge is planned at 73 feet wide at its widest point and includes a 14-foot path for people walking or biking.

Designed into the land bridge is an overlook pointing toward Union Bay and Laurelhurst, and greenery buffering users from the highway on either side. This land bridge permanently replaces an underpass that was available to people walking or biking on the east side of Montlake Boulevard, which closed in 2022. Its existence is due to an earlier design for the Montlake lid that extended fully from Montlake Boulevard to this location, but which had to be scaled back partially due to cost.

But that is not the only dedicated biking and walking connection set to be completed this year. Crews are also expected to complete a new bike and pedestrian tunnel underneath Montlake Boulevard just to the north of SR 520. That tunnel will allow users to travel directly from the SR 520 regional trail on the bridge directly to the Bill Dawson Trail on the other side of Montlake Boulevard without interacting with the boulevard or highway exits. In the interim, the Bill Dawson Trail provides a connection to west Montlake and the street grid on that side of the highway-like street.

In the long term, this connection will also be improved as part of the Portage Bay bridge replacement project, which is heading toward construction in the coming years and is expected to open around the turn of the decade. Once open, the Bill Dawson Trail will serve as a transition point as people walking or biking switch from the north side of the bridge across the lake to the south side of the bridge between Montlake and north Capitol Hill. Originally, the Portage Bay bridge was not slated to even include a walking and biking trail, but one was added through the design process after listening to community feedback. That connection will ultimately change the entire landscape of Seattle’s bike network in central Seattle.

Creating a direct connection to the second planned lid over SR 520, around Roanoke Street in north Capitol Hill (also planned to open around the beginning of the next decade), people biking will have a connection to the planned bike corridor on Eastlake, to the University District, to the rest of Capitol Hill, and by extension much of the rest of the city.

For now, the new lid, land bridge and bike/pedestrian tunnel under Montlake Boulevard will go far in reshaping access to SR 520 and by extension strengthen the connection between the entire Eastside and much of Seattle. Transit riders will more easily access buses on the Montlake lid, and people biking will seamlessly access the walking and biking trail.

Crews will also be completing finishing touches on some other elements that repair the connections between the highway and the neighborhood, disrupted by years of construction. Lake Washington Boulevard, which no longer will have a direct ramp connection either to or from SR 520, is being fully rebuilt along the southern edge of the highway. The sidewalk reconstructed there is being built away from the roadway, with vegetation providing a buffer from traffic on both sides.

While most of these projects will see substantial completion this year, not everything on the list is set to have its ribbon cut in 2023. “In early 2024 we anticipate putting the finishing touches (such as landscaping throughout the project area) on the project before it is complete,” Steve Peer, communications manager for the 520 project, told The Urbanist.

Looking even further ahead, once the entirety of the 520 bridge replacement project has wrapped up in the early 2030’s, Seattle will start work on the Arboretum North Entry project. Thanks to a transfer agreement approved by the city council in late 2022, Seattle will take possession of the piece of land literally named for the state highway department as work completes. “WSDOT Peninsula” is currently being used for construction staging, the property will turn into the north gateway that the 230-acre park has never had.

Proposed for the north entry project is a symbol of why the peninsula was named for WSDOT in the first place: a sole support beam from the completed ramps for the R.H. Thomson Expressway. Once a planned highway that would have cut directly through the Arboretum, the land acquisitions for the expressway compelled the eviction of thousands of Seattle residents in the Central District and the demolition of their homes. While the rest of the ramps have been torn down as part of the current SR 520 construction, this one structure is set to be installed in the expanded park as a symbol of Seattle’s civic activism.

With the debate over how to replace the SR 520 bridge going back over three decades, it is something to celebrate that Seattleites — particularly transit riders and people who walk and bike — will start to see the fruits of the project that makes their daily lives easier and put an end to years of construction. We’ll be watching how it all starts to take final shape over the year ahead.

The post Montlake Highway Lid Heads Into the Home Stretch in 2023 first appeared on The Urbanist.