Category: Bike Trails

For those of you who have not heard, Renton is partnering with King County and several Eastside cities to build a premier bike and walking trail from Coulon Park to Woodinville.  The trail will utilize the abandoned East Side Rail Corridor, that has been preserved under a Federal “rail-bank” program that keeps it intact by trail use and preserves the possibility that it could one day again have active rail on it.

The  first phases of trail construction will begin later this year, with a goal that the entire, incredible project will be completed by 2020.

This project will open the century-old Wilburton Rail Trestle to hikers and bikers, who for the first time will be allowed to traverse the 100 foot-high-wooden structure on a new deck that is 16 feet wide.  This is certain to become one of our region’s top attractions.

The above video provides a preview of the trestle crossing (minus deck and railings)

The trail will cross I-405 near the trestle, over a new pedestrian/bike bridge that will be built in South Bellevue near the location where the southbound I-405 tunnel was removed during the last I 405 widening a decade ago.  Before this widening project, the rail crossed I-405 on a lid over the freeway.

Construction in Renton will start this year with the tracks being lifted, and a new compacted gravel surface being installed in their place.  The trail will be open to the public in this form initially, and a year or two later it will be paved to 16 feet wide.  The trail is wider than most of our others, as we are trying to make room for bikes and hikers in both directions.

This trail will be a valuable connection on the eastside, and a valuable amenity for Renton residents.  Funding is coming from King County Parks  and Trails bonds with contributions from a number of other governmental agencies,

The map above shows the extent of the new trail

On our sunny spring days, like we enjoyed last weekend, the Northwest can seem like the Garden of Eden. I only have to walk a few blocks from my house to reach a well-maintained trail that meanders along Honey Creek, through a quiet, steep valley deeply shaded by fern-covered trees. Simple old wooden bridges enable the trail to criss-cross over the creek below, keeping hikers (and bikers and horse-back riders) feeling close to the flowing water.

I’ve been enjoying these trails with my family for 26 years, and they have changed very little over the years. The City of Renton does a great job of maintaining them (in part because of utilities buried in the trails). When guests visit from out of town, if the weather is at all permitting, I take them down the Honey Creek trail. Anyone who wants to experience it can find it by parking on the street near Kennydale Memorial Hall, where Edmonds Ave. NE meets NE 27th Street. Walk eastward down the hill and enjoy the paved trail that used to be “Devils Elbow Road”. As the road crosses May Creek, at the bottom of the Elbow, walkers and bikers can access the Honey Creek trail which is finished with compacted gravel.

Approximately two miles of the Cedar River trail will be getting a center stripe to separate direction-of-travel lanes, new 10 MPH speed limits, and other improvements in an effort to improve safety for all users.

At last night’s Committee of the Whole meeting, the Renton Council received a briefing from a cross-divisional “trail safety” team that the Mayor had commissioned here. The team included specialists from recreation, transportation, police, and other departments. The briefing was also attended by many citizens from the community, including relatives of the hiker who was killed by a bicycle on the trail last month, representatives of the Cascade Bicycle Club, the editor of the Renton Reporter, and other interested parties.

The council largely agreed with the recommendation of the Mayor’s trail-safety team, and gave the administration support to move forward.

There are several items proposed for the trail as well as a public awareness campaign. Here are some of the most significant items in the proposal:

The two-mile section of the Cedar River Trail, from the library to the Railroad Trestle Park on Maple Valley Highway, will receive a dashed center-stripe to separate the two directions of travel. Walkers, joggers, skaters, horseback riders, an bike riders will all be asked to walk on the right hand side of the trail except when passing slower travelers; then, they can use the left side as needed to pass, but they must be wary of on-coming traffic. The pavement is 12 feet wide in this section, so it will be divided into two six foot lanes.

That section of the trail mentioned above will be marked for a lower maximum speed. A new maximum speed limit of 10 miles per hour will replace the existing speed limit of 15 miles per hour. (While this may be disappointing to some bicyclists, I calculate that this change only adds a maximum of three minutes of travel over the entire two mile stretch for the fastest riders, and has less impact for everyone else)

Solid center striping will be added to sections where passing is considered dangerous due to visibility obstructions (just as in the case of roads). Solid stripes will also be added to direct trail users away from bollards and other obstructions in the trail.

There will be a dismount zone (where any bikes must be walked) in the lower section of the trail between the Library and the Senior Center. This is a narrower section of trail, with poor visibility at the bridges. It was judged to be too unsafe for continued bike commuting. Bikes have the option to stay on the streets above this stretch.

There will be new trail etiquette signs posted, and brochures made available at the trail, to remind users about safe practices for enjoying the trail. This will include awareness for bicyclists that they must not exceed a safe speed, regardless of the maximum speed posted. Overtaking pedestrians requires care, and groups with children or animals will require special care as they can not always be expected to reliably stay on their side of the trail.

Additional enforcement will be employed to stress the new trail rules and give warnings or citations (as appropriate) to violators. Some of the enforcement will be from volunteers, and some will be from commissioned police officers. In addition, trail users will be reminded to contact 911 if they feel anyone is obviously violating rules or is otherwise a menace on the trail.

Council members had a few suggestions, potentially including extending the lane markings and lower speed limit to the east further and investigating the feasibility of interactive speed signs that would tell riders their speed. These suggestions were taken under review by the team. Since they are additive to the staff suggestions (not in conflict), staff could probably move forward with their plan while further studying the council suggestions. We’ll get another status on this soon.

In closing, I want to emphasize that it is important to our physical and mental well-being that we all get out and move as much as we can. I have great respect for all the trail users–walkers, joggers, skaters, bikers, etc– for making it a priority to exercise. Even with the inherent risks of getting out on a multi-use trail, the collective gains to our health, longevity, and state of mind make it worth it.

There is a column in yesterday’s Seattle Times with more information about Velda King Mapelli, the Renton hiker tragically killed in a bike collision on Cedar River Trail. She was an active senior, accustomed to walking many miles at a time on Renton’s trails. Click here to read the column.

It is reported this morning that no charges are anticipated in the bike-pedestrian collision on Cedar River Trail. Here is the story in the PI.