Seattle Children’s began work last week on a new link to the Burke-Gilman Trail that will connect their expanding campus to the trail. The new trail link will also provide a good connection for many Laurelhurst homes and destinations.
Work should be completed sometime this winter or early spring.
The project is just one part of Seattle Children’s walking and biking improvements in the area. They footed the bill for the 39th Ave NE neighborhood greenway as a way to both increase safety for families in the area and as a way to encourage employees and visitors to walk or bike to their expanding campus.
Seattle Children’s is also a key sponsor of Puget Sound Bike Share, granting the under-development public bike system $500,000.
Details on the trail link, from Seattle Children’s:
The ADA-compliant link will traverse the Hartmann Building property and tie the trail to the new traffic signal/crosswalk at Sand Point Way NE and the new cycle track that runs in front of the hospital.
…Work will take place on weekdays only – no weekends or holidays – between 7 a.m.-5 p.m. No noisy machinery will operate between 7-8 a.m.
The project involves grading and paving, building fences and retaining walls and installing signage and landscaping. The landscaping work will complete efforts by the Friends of the Burke-Gilman Trail to replace invasive plants with native vegetation. The trail will remain open during construction and all work will be staged from the Hartmann site.
The trail connection is part of our Livable Streets Initiative – a series of transportation-related improvements made in association with our Building Hope expansion. To make room for Building Hope, we asked the city to vacate portions of 41st Street NE and 46th Avenue NE. In exchange, we agreed to invest in public amenities such as the trail connection and the William and June Boeing Park and Garden Walk at 40th Avenue NE and NE 45th Street.
Comments
3 responses to “Seattle Children’s begins work on link to Burke-Gilman Trail”
Seattle Children’s Hospital is not only an excellent hospital, it is also very bike friendly. I have made the ride from work or home to Children’s too many times. While the current route is not that bad, the new route will be a welcome improvement.
That’s just a couple blocks from the proposed “bike hotel” backing up to the Burke just east of 36th Ave. I wonder if there’s any possible synergy. People from the bike hotel could get to the Burke either by climbing up the stairs at 36th or taking the sidewalk past the Hartmann building. If the sidewalk is wide enough and everyone rides slow it should be fine…
This map shows an “existing sidewalk” in front of the Hartmann building that isn’t there in the Google Earth images… but maybe it’s been built since those photos were taken. In general sidewalk coverage along Sand Point Way is spotty, so any improvement there is good to see. I ran by the front of Children’s recently and saw the new cycletrack there… looks nice, and in a location where (in conjunction with this work) it’s obviously appropriate.
[…] part of a recent campus expansion, Seattle Children’s constructed a brand new trail connection, a section of protected bike lane and a neighborhood greenway. By creating safer, easier and more […]