Tuesday Afternoon Theater: Cross-Kirkland Trail construction update

| Posted

September 24, 2013

Rail removal on the Cross-Kirkland Corridor is underway, and parts of the corridor will be somewhat walkable/bikeable this fall with a packed gravel interim trail ready by spring 2014.

Via Kirkland TV:

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Progress map:

About the author:

Tom Fucoloro is the Founder and Editor of Seattle Bike Blog. He is also the author of Biking Uphill in the Rain: The Story of Seattle from behind the Handlebars.

Tags:

eastside rail corridor, kirkland

5 responses to “Tuesday Afternoon Theater: Cross-Kirkland Trail construction update”

Gary

September 24, 2013

by the time there is any money to build a light rail line North from Bellevue to Kirkland it will be realized that the current trail is working fine as a bicycle/walking corridor. And that the best route, is not along this corridor and that elevating it is the thing to do…. just what the rail advocates fear… never again will this bit of land be used for rail.
Adam

September 24, 2013

I hope you’re wrong, Gary. The ERC is in a pretty good (not perfect) spot for rail transit up and down the Eastside. It passes through the Totem Lake commercial district, is within blocks of downtown Kirkland, goes directly by Google’s campus in Kirkland, is walking distance from Carillon Point, passes directly between downtown Bellevue and the future Spring District and to the South goes directly into the heart of Renton by the Boeing plant. Biking and walking paths can take nearly any route since bikes and people don’t need giant radii for turning. Rails can’t just be placed anywhere due to turning and slope requirements, so why not use a continuous corridor that is already in place? I am an advocate of having different options for transit, including rail, bike, personal vehicle, etc. To place a rail corridor somewhere else would be a political nightmare due to the thousands of easements that would be required to create an entirely new corridor. I’ve read the ERC is also 100 feet wide along most of its length, so maybe it can be both a trail and a rail corridor.
1. Tom Fucoloro
  
  September 24, 2013
  
  The corridor is supposedly wide enough for transit and a trail. If parts of the corridor do, in fact, prove to be a useful transit corridor, then it can be redesigned as part of that project (at the speed our region moves, this will be in 2035…)
  
  Until then, let’s use it for biking and walking!
Silas Porter

November 1, 2013

The Cross Kirkland Corridor is plenty wide to accommodate both trail and transit. Sound Transit needs 32 feet for light rail. The Burke Gilman Trail is 30-feet wide at its widest. This includes soft shoulders. The Cross Kirkland Corridor is 100 feet wide.
Ten Great Things Happening in Washington State – RTC TrailBlog – Rails-to-Trails Conservancy

February 3, 2014

[…] corridor, which will likely include a paved hiking and biking trail. Check out the latest update by Fucoloro, or learn all about the project on Kirkland's website. Photo courtesy Marie Stake and Jim Eagan via […]