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Monday, March 18, 2024
March 18, 2024

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Rail-to-trail project takes step forward

Kirkland stretch of line east of Seattle open; plans still under debate

The Columbian
Published:

KIRKLAND — Most of the 42-mile Eastside Rail Corridor stretching from Renton to Snohomish has yet to be transformed from abandoned BNSF tracks into a transportation pathway ready for pedestrians, cyclists and public transit.

But on Saturday, the longest stretch of trail so far officially opens as the 5.75-mile Cross Kirkland Corridor.

Since the old BNSF tracks were ripped out more than a year ago and its large-rock gravel was pushed to the side to make way for the $3.6 million interim compact-gravel trail, Kirkland residents Paul and Sue Beeson have been taking daily walks on the city’s first regional trail, while joggers and bike commuters pass them by. The city has discussed adding such a trail since the couple moved to the city 35 years ago.

“We love it — to finally have a trail here; it feels like such a gift,” said Paul Beeson, 62, who said he likes the trail just as it is. He said he likes that cyclists can ride comfortably on the path without darting past them too quickly.

But the Cross Kirkland Corridor’s $70 million master plan calls for much more.

The city is awaiting plans for the Sound Transit 3 package to be finalized before it decides how to design a 100-foot-wide transportation corridor that would establish space for pedestrians, cyclists, and some form of public transportation.

If Sound Transit forgoes light rail on Kirkland’s part of the corridor by 2016, Kirkland City Manager Kurt Triplett says, the city will make its own arrangements for public transit that could take the form of trolleys, gondolas or an express-lane for buses.

Triplett, who spearheaded the city’s at-first controversial purchase of the corridor after joining the city in 2010, said his preference would be for the corridor to become one of the greenest transportation pathways in the country by adding something more environmentally friendly than buses.

He’d also like to see a unique mode of transportation on the corridor to attract more tech companies like Google to stay and grow in the city.

But because the city’s narrow arterials and nearby Interstate 405 are already choked with traffic, Triplett said it’s essential the city add some new public transportation pathway as soon as possible. His goal is to open a new transitway in five years to both alleviate existing traffic problems and grow denser development in the city’s downtown and Totem Lake area.

He expects the popularity of Kirkland’s new trail to grow as the weather improves and more people get acquainted with it.

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