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After a short delay caused by bid-dispute, King County Parks is almost ready to redevelop 1.7 miles of the Burke-Gilman Trail in Lake Forest Park. It is anticipated that the trail will close at the end of May, and it will remain completely closed for four to six months.
The closure will be annoying for some and a significant hardship for others. Whatever your situation, the county is working with Cascade Bicycle Club and other governments to mitigate it to the greatest degree possible. One piece of the mitigation, a signed and improved detour, has been identified – and now needs permits from the City of Lake Forest Park.
While there is little reason to think the detour is in trouble, it is important to emphasize that the route is not official until King County Parks has secured permits from the cities of Lake Forest Park, Shoreline and Seattle.
To date, permits have been secured from the city of Shoreline and will soon be finalized with the city of Seattle.
The city of Lake Forest Park opened a 14-day comment period on Friday, April 15, for the segment of the detour located within city limits. Information about the permit and comment period is posted on the Lake Forest Park website.
Please take a moment to provide a comment on this permit by emailing Steve Bennett, Planning Director, or send written comment to: LFP City Hall 17425 Ballinger Way NE, Lake Forest Park, WA 98155
Finally, as soon as the specific closure date is identified, it will be announced in the local press, posted on the project website, on signage on the trail and here on our blog.
Ugh. If SB, better to just go up Lake City Way to 145, then over to 35th and out 125th Sandpoint Way. Lake city way has a fairly nice shoulder.
145th west of Lake City Way is horrid, even for a few blocks. For norhbound, IF heading around the west side of Acadia, my preferred route is to cross Lake City Way at 115th (SDOT came out and tweaked the loop sensors to work with bikes at my request), then up 25th. Following 25th gets a little wierd between 135th and 140th, but there is a nearly instant pedestrian light at the 125th crossing, and a quick responding light at the 145th crossing.
I think 28th Ave from 110th to 115th is one of the gentler climbs out of the well of Meadow Brook.
I regularly do this route both north and southbound.
I concur that Sandpoint Way from 125th south is another good route, but I’ve never gone that way northbound.
[...] For months now, the most-Googled term leading people to Seattle Bike Blog has been some variation on “2011 Burke-Gilman closure.” King County Parks has been very reluctant to release details on the project, particularly the sure-to-be-disappointing detour route. With work scheduled to begin in May, the detour is still not yet official pending approval from Lake Forest Park, according to the Cascade blog. [...]
Bike shuttles, like those used by the Microsoft Connector service, are also still in the mix of mitigations being discussed. Given the good price the County is getting for the project, we expect there are sufficient reserves to fund shuttles and other mitigation.
Why close one of the most traveled trails in the area for the four to six months that coincide with its most use as the weather improves? Can’t King County Parks try and plan within lower use times?
Yves:
Yours is a good question, and one many people have on their minds.
Unfortunately, construction season and (for some) bicycling season coincide. Paving activities are best done under dry conditions. Also, the adjacent critical habitat and near-shore environment also pushes the project into the dry season to minimize run off and impacts to salmon runs.
Are there any updates on the timing of this closure? The only link in the article above is broken.
@Elmo, Fixed the link. I don’t have any updates, but we’ll see what we can find out.
This detour will be well beyond dreadful. The hill on 165th up from the waterfront is a long very steep slog, with a very slow light on Bothell Way. Across the top of the hill and then dumping the bikes out on 145th? 145th is madness for bike riders. High speeds, no left turn lanes…. it’s going to be grim. Then along Lake City Way?
Good luck with this, it’s going to kill the casual riders.
[...] has still not been finalized or released pending approval by the city of Lake Forest Park, but Cascade Bicycle Club posted this unofficial detour route (thanks Jonathan for making it into a Google Map): View Burke-Gilman [...]
I just moved into town and commute up to 19th and Ballinger in shoreline from the Burke Gilman. Can anyone recommend a good alternate route?
I just attempted the detour north bound. I followed the detour signs and it was awful, too hilly for me. I gave up at 155th west of Lake City Way. I won’t ride that way again.
Ignore the detour signs and you can keep riding to 145th before being blocked. I tried the detour once and it wasn’t worth it. So this works if you want a nice pleasant ride but it does end there and not at 95ht where the detour begins.
[...] joined us in seeing this project through. We know it’s been a difficult eight months as we all waited out the detour. Let us know what you think of the new [...]