SDOT is proposing a bike trail along the west side of Beacon Hill that would connect the I-90 trail to Beacon Ave near I-5. The project will provide a nice route through the greenbelt to people riding from the east side and along the I-90 trail to Sodo. From Mike Lindblom at the Seattle Times:
If the City Council approves the project this month, construction would begin in the spring and finish late next year.
Instead of plunging directly from north Beacon Hill toward the stadiums, the route heads mostly north-south above Interstate 5, through a greenbelt known as “The Jungle” for its history of homeless encampments and drug users.
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From there, riders would then take the existing overpass to cross I-5 at South Holgate Street. Not far from the bottom is a north-south Sound Transit trail.
A future trail phase is supposed to reach the stadiums, via switchbacks on the north hillside.
Of the $3.4 million price tag, $2.3 million comes from a 2000 parks levy, $980,000 comes from a federal grant and $114,000 comes from local street funds, Lindblom reports.
Comments
4 responses to “City proposes Beacon Hill bike trail to connect I-90 to Sodo”
I may be nitpicking, but thankfully this project is far beyond a proposal stage and has been planned for years. [1] This project will be adding a trail under Jose Rizal [2], which is currently a bit of a dumping ground, traveling through the Doctor Jose Rizal park, and long an existing access road through the forested green belt here.
This is awesome, because SODO is horribly underserved and we’re constantly losing battles where major road construction projects are completed, such as the repavement of Airport Way South, without any bicycle facilities added to these four or more lane highways.
Some day the Mountains to Sound should extend west to the actual Sound, and hopefully south to a connection to the Chief Sealth trail which is currently being extended as far as Angeline but planned to go to SODO.
[1] http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/mountains_to_sound.htm
[2] http://www.flickr.com/photos/btmspox/4874436204/
Saying “SDOT is proposing a new bike trail” is a misnomer. Phase 1 of the MTS trail extension has been in the works for years. SDOT is merely talking about when construction will begin on a project that has been designed for quite some time. Let’s just hope that SDOT comes up with a good solution for Holgate before they start dumping bikers onto that dangerous hill.
Well, I didn’t say “new,” but I guess that was unclear. It’s being proposed to the City Council for a vote. The ST story says it was proposed ten years ago, but it’s now going to the transportation committee, then the whole council. Sorry for the confusion.
Yeah, this is not a very accurate story. The trail has been through multiple reviews. The council vote is simply on the agreement for use of the right-of-way.