Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 3, Issue 12, March 2003

Copyright 2003 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article and photos below in your research. Be sure to quote the Seattle Sun as your source.

'Missing' trail link found

Mayor Greg Nickels recently announced his plan to complete the "missing link" of the Burke-Gilman Trail in Ballard with a route that weaves between Shilshole Avenue NW, Ballard Avenue NW and NW Market Street.

The City had been contemplating three different routes. The one announced by the mayor essentially blends two of those.

Bicycle riders and pedestrians heading west from Fremont on the existing trail will connect with the new link at 11th Avenue NW and NW 45 Street. They will then wind through much of south Ballard along expanded sidewalks and right of ways, connecting with a future portion of the trail near the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks.

It will cost about $6 million to construct, which the City is hoping to cover with federal funding. Actual construction would not start until at least 2005.

Marianne Bichsel, spokeswoman for the mayor, said building the trail entirely along Shilshole, as some bicyclists had wanted, would be too costly and disruptive to nearby industrial businesses.