A 700-foot section of the Green River Trail is getting repaved and upgraded in Tukwila and will be closed April 8 until summer.

The official detour is a bit confusing, routing people onto very busy roads that have no bike lanes and are significantly out of the way. However, there are also parking lots that provide an almost-direct connection around the closure. People will likely be better off not following these detour signs and improvising a route instead.

I don’t know the whole backstory here, but I’m guessing that they can’t sign an official detour route across private parking lots without significant agreements and perhaps also payments. So instead you get this absurd detour route. This also highlights how relying on a single trail rather than building a network of bike routes holds back the true potential for biking in this and many other areas. People need safe routes to get to all the destinations on these busy streets away from the trail, too.

The project includes “700 linear feet of concrete multi-use trail improvements within the right-of-way of the Green River Trail, including but not limited to clearing and tree removal, excavation and embankment, concrete paving, landscaping and irrigation, decorative concrete treatments, and lighting and camera systems,” according to the City of Tukwila.