Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 8, Issue 3, March 2004
Copyright 2004 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article below in your research. Be sure to cite the Seattle Sun as your source.
City ready to connect with Interurban Trail
By JAMES BUSH
It's been 65 years since the last streetcar made the trip, but soon local bicyclists will be able to use the route of the old Seattle-Everett Interurban for rides to south Snohomish County and beyond.
The City of Seattle will soon add its link to the Interurban Trail, a pedestrian/bicycle facility which will someday stretch from North Seattle to Everett. About 70 people, including bicyclists and neighbors of the proposed trail, attended a Feb. 11 public meeting at Broadview-Thomson Elementary School to discuss the project.
The trail link will run along the former traction right of way, located between the Evergreen-Washelli Cemetery and the backyards of homes on the east side of Fremont Avenue N., from N. 110th Street to N. 128th Street.
At that point, bicyclists can continue along Linden Avenue N. to N. 145th Street, where another trail section continues north through Shoreline.
The former transit right of way is owned by Seattle City Light, which uses it as a power line corridor (and will continue to do so after the trail is built). Currently, a dirt path winds down the right of way.
Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) project manager Stuart Goldsmith says the new trail will consist of a 12-foot-wide asphalt roadway with two-foot-wide gravel shoulders on each side. The project will cost $1.2 million, with $1 million provided by the federal government. Construction may start before the end of this year, depending on weather conditions, and will probably take between six and nine months.
Although connecting Seattle and Everett with a multi-use path is an ambitious project, much of the work is underway or already completed.
The City of Lynnwood opened the initial 3.8-mile stretch of the Interurban Trail in September 1994, and most of the northern portions of the trail are already in operation.
The City of Shoreline is hard at work finishing up sections of trail from N. 145th Street to N. 155th Street and from N. 192nd Street to N. 200th Street, says Kirk McKinley, Shoreline project manager. Another 15-block trail section will also be finished by summer, he says, with construction on two bridges spanning Aurora Avenue set for next year. A consultant will soon be hired to being planning for the final 17-block Shoreline trail section.
Jack Millman, who owns a property backing on the proposed trail, thinks the facility will benefit adjacent homeowners by boosting property values. "Put it in my backyard," he says. "It's OK with me."
Trail neighbors say the corridor now functions as an unofficial off-leash area for dog owners, who aren't always careful to clean up after their pets. There have also been occasional problems with garbage dumping and illegal activity spilling over from nearby Aurora Avenue.
Peter Lagerwey, SDOT pedestrian and bicycle program coordinator, told neighbors that bike trails generally help to curb unwanted activities. "Once we get a certain amount of use, people's behavior just improves," he says.
But several neighbors expressed concerns about the trail crossing at N. 125th Street. Cars often speed down this arterial street, and bicyclists don't always come to a complete stop at trail crossings, says Cash O'Donnell. A pedestrian-activated light or trail crossing sign with flashing lights should be installed at the intersection, he says. "Someone's going to get hurt unless you revisit this."
Lagerwey says that two trail crossing signs will warn motorists coming from each direction, plus a painted crosswalk and lighting will be installed at the crossing. Stop signs will also be installed on the trail.
At some point in the future, the City of Seattle plans to install bicycle lanes on the section of Linden Avenue N. from N. 130th Street to N. 145th Street, making a more seamless connection with the Shoreline portion of the trail. Lagerwey brought drawings to the meeting showing a possible treatment for that section of street, featuring curbs, sidewalks and a landscaped median. The drawings are preliminary, as the City has no funding for the project, he notes.
According to Frederick Bird's history of the Seattle-Everett Interurban, posted on the Snohomish County Web site, the streetcar line was established by trolley entrepreneur Fred Sander. It extended from Ballard to Bitter Lake by 1906, then was expanded into south Snohomish County in 1907.
The Interurban line was purchased the following year by the Boston-based firm of Stone & Webster and renamed the Seattle-Everett Traction Company. The new company extended its tracks another 10 miles to Everett and eliminated the Ballard section of the line in favor of a direct route to downtown via the Seattle streetcar tracks on Greenwood, Phinney and Fremont avenues.
Ironically, although artist Richard Beyer dubbed his famous Fremont sculpture "Waiting for the Interurban," as part of the company's deal to use the Seattle streetcar tracks, the Interurban made no stops between N. 85th Street and Greenwood Avenue N. and downtown. With trains reaching speeds of up to 60 miles per hour on the northern portion of the route, the Interurban could reach Everett in about one hour and 10 minutes. With improved roads, competition from bus lines, and Seattle poised to phase out its own streetcar lines, the Interurban called it quits in early 1939.
The transit right-of-ways in Seattle and Shoreline were later acquired by Seattle City Light (which serves both cities), while the Snohomish County corridors were purchased by the Snohomish County Public Utilities District.
Lagerwey says he's seen references to building a bicycle trail on the Interurban right of way in City of Seattle planning documents dating back to the late 1970s.