King County Parks will show off the latest plans for what could easily become one of the most stunning segments of trail in the region: The Eastside Trail through Wilburton.
The open house is 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Bellevue City Hall.
This segment will include the rehabbed Wilburton Trestle, a very cool old rail bridge that will provide trail users with towering views of downtown Bellevue and beyond.
But, of course, it’s not just the views that are exciting. The trestle and a planned NE 8th Street overpass will also make it much easier to bike through the area, providing routes that fly over wide streets near a I-405 interchanges. This segment also needs to include a connection to the I-90 Trail. It’s hard to overstate how much this segment of trail will improve bikeability in the immediate area and through the region.
The County has applied for a Federal BUILD grant to help build these bridge structures as well as a trail bridge in Totem Lake.
Sections of the Eastside Trail are already open as interim hardpack gravel trails through Kirkland, north Bellevue and Renton. If all the pieces come together perfectly, the trail could be open by 2021. But, of course, there are still a lot of “ifs.”
More details from King County Parks: (more…)