Monroe fixing to blaze a few trails

The city of Monroe is partnering with local and regional agencies to build two connecting trails between downtown and surrounding communities.

The plan is part of a much bigger picture. Eventually, the routes could help residents reach as far as eastern Washington, or intersect popular trails in Snohomish and King counties.

Mayor Geoffrey Thomas recently met with representatives from Snohomish and King counties, the city of Duvall, the Mountains to Sound Greenway and other groups to nail down next steps for the project. Cooperating agencies will be “building mile-by-mile” segments of the regional system, he said.

The most immediate plan is to construct sections from Snohomish to Monroe and Monroe to Duvall.

Thomas said the routes could work for commuting, exercise, training, tourism and regional athletic events. Eventually, with the addition of the new Sky to Sound Water Trail, which will stretch from north and south forks of the Skykomish River to merge with the Snoqualmie River and make its way out to the Puget Sound, he said events like the Sky to Sea multi-sport relay race held in Bellingham every year could become a possibility.

“Monroe has always been an active community,” he said.

The preliminary design has the first trail section start out in Centennial Park in Snohomish and connect at the north end of Lake Tye Park, Thomas said. The route will then traverse the city, exit east of the Lewis Street Bridge on a new pedestrian bridge out of Al Borlin Park. It will then connect to the north end of the Snoqualmie Valley Trail that passes through Duvall. That plan could potentially change later, he said. 

Centennial Trail Coalition member Tim Hemmann said trails that traverse Snohomish are already heavily used.

“It affords a family environment, it affords opportunities for exercise for people, which is good, and to be outdoors and to enjoy the environment that we have here,” he said. “They are wildly popular actually.”

The two proposed trail segments cut through and benefit multiple jurisdictions and legislative districts. There are officials and staff from three city governments, interest groups, two county governments, and state elected officials that will work to promote the system.

A technical group of staff from coordinating agencies will work this summer to lay out what needs to happen next in order to get the trails built, including wetlands delineation and funding design and construction plans, Thomas said. The Puget Sound Regional Council and the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office may be a source of grant funds for the two segments, he said.

Each segment will cost about $15 million, said Russ Bosanko, Snohomish County Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department Parks Operations Community Partnerships manager. The county already has about half of that squared away for each section, available in differently sized chunks between 2018 and 2022. The price includes engineering, design and construction permits, he said. 

Bosanko said the county has tentatively labeled the section from Snohomish to Monroe the Snohomish to Monroe Centennial Trail, and the section from Monroe to the Snoqualmie Valley Trail the Centennial Snoqualmie Trail extension. He said each will take between eight and 10 years to complete, and that will likely not be done simultaneously.

The first is about 5.5 miles long, and will be built on property already owned by the county, Bosanko said. The second is roughly 5 miles, but portions must either be purchased or easements obtained from current property owners, he said. 

Bosanko said completing the project also will likely take some state and federal funding.

Participating groups and individuals will have to refine a “cohesive legislative strategy in Olympia” for the 2018 session, Thomas said. Completing the project will take persistence, Thomas and Hemmann agreed. Hemmann said it would be prudent for residents to contact their legislators to emphasize the public’s interest in the trail system. 

“When I came in about six or several years ago, I thought we could have it done by now,” Hemmann said. “It requires our legislators prioritizing it and funding it. There is a lot of support in our community, and a desire for it. It has to be high on the (state’s) priority list.”