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A look at the city’s planned trail connecting South Park to the 1st Ave Bridge

The West Duwamish Trail will connect into South Park as soon as the end of 2013 according to the city’s plans.

The trail—which runs almost to the West Seattle Bridge and connects to the 1st Ave Bridge—will extend down W Marginal Way to S Portland St. On Portland—which might be the potholiest street in Seattle—the trail will be built in a currently unpaved space and will lead to a really cool little pocket park along the river.


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Perhaps more importantly, the trail extension could be a big kickstart for a more bike-friendly South Park.

Planners presented details to the Bicycle Advisory Board Wednesday. Here’s how the one-block section connecting the existing trail to S Portland will look:

Below is a map of the project. It could operate as a lifeline for the neighborhood, and opens many opportunities for biking and walking connections:

So, what would it take to connect this trail to the soon-to-be-rebuilt South Park Bridge and, someday, the Green River Trail? There is a lot of potential for neighborhood greenways in South Park. The current draft of the Bicycle Master Plan leaves a lot to be desired in the neighborhood (it doesn’t even have this planned trail). This would be a great opportunity for some residents to propose a neighborhood greenway route or two that could interface with this trail.


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8 responses to “A look at the city’s planned trail connecting South Park to the 1st Ave Bridge”

  1. Todd

    It’s a start. More attention needs to be focused in the south end. You northerners have no idea how good you have it.

  2. Nate Todd

    Hooray! As a West Seattle cyclist I took this route all the time without cycle amenities but am happy to have cycle specific route to South Park. Just a short trip along 599 gets you to the Green River trail from here. Need to add the extension but great that this section may be done soon. Nice industrial views mixed with riverfront riding. This makes me happy.

    1. Tom Fucoloro

      I’m imagining a seamless cycle track/trail from the South Park Bridge to the Green River trail follwing 14th and W Marginal Pl. Like this: https://www.google.com/maps/ms?msid=209027894998262833969.0004d2590c822453a8c7b&msa=0

      In that map, the Yellow is the new trail. The green is a potential neighborhood greenway/cycle track route (this could be modified according to neighborhood interests and preferences). The blue is a cycle track/trail connecting the South Park Bridge to the Green River Trail. Obviously, this would require coordination btwn the city and county. But it doesn’t seem that hard to do, really.

      1. The “yellow” looks red to me…

        There’s already a short segment of existing trail connecting 8th Ave S to Henderson St. Perhaps a greenway the length of 8th is called for? It doesn’t quite take you all the way to the bridge, but then in a perfect world I’d extend the W Marginal segment of the new trail to Kenyon if I were to adopt your plan anyway.

        It’s weird how South Park is almost randomly split between city and county, though admittedly most of it is in Seattle.

      2. Tom Fucoloro

        Ha! It was yellow, then I changed it to red b/c Google uses yellow for roads.

  3. Hafoc

    Good timing. I just moved to S Seattle and this morning was my 1st commute (I’ve been cycling to Tukwilla light rail then catching a bus to the U District). The main question is am I the only woman (old woman at that) that cycles S Seattle?

    And How am I suppose to get from the 1st Ave S bridge drop off to 1st Ave S? No crosswalks, No sidewalks! Out of the 14.2 miles this was the only danger zone.

    But if I go S to Tukwilla all of Military Road is a danger zone.

    Also we are commuters so adding mile after mile trying to get to safe routes is not working! We need bike zones that can allow us to get from S Seattle to the city as safe and easy as a car. Worked on Dexter!

  4. Torturedbycats

    I want to preface this statement with this: It’s wonderful that they’re trying to fix up the trail through South Park, and it is a start of what is really needed to increase ridership in the area.

    That being said, I hope people who are making decisions are reading on these threads, and am going to put in my 2 cents: As a regular commuter from the city to Tukwila I definitely have my less favorite spaces on the ride & while the potholes through the industrial area are annoying I don’t find it particularly dangerous to ride through. Where i do find myself slowing down and having to take care in areas like the bit of west marginal way with many businesses on it where you must ride on the sidewalk because there is no place else to ride; or coming on and off the 1st ave s bridge on the north end where there are also no lower trafficked roads to ride through on. And it would be really nice too if as you are getting off the south end of the 1st ave s bridge you had the option of going towards South Park instead of being forced towards west Seattle or having to ride down a dirt track and navigate through concrete barriers on a steep slope if you want to take the direct path.

  5. Kenwahman

    My office is on Portland st. I watch bicycles use the new lane and respect the laws but 25-50% of the riders use the now very narrow car lanes and using both sides of the road. If there is a bike lane shouldn’t the be using it and ticketed if not? SDOT spent millions in tax dollars to build this path and the arrogant speeding cyclists ignore it because the car lane is newly paved and they can pedal as fast as they want. I have had to wait to enter the roadway numerous times because a cyclist is in the car lane, it’s dangerous when you’re only looking for cars and trucks, it’s totally a industrial area, if bikes have a lane stay off the car lanes, just sayin!

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