[UNLOCKED] Bike Trail to Link Marysville and Lake Stevens
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[UNLOCKED] Bike Trail to Link Marysville and Lake Stevens
Bike and pedestrian path has 30 percent state funding in place as neighboring cities work to hammer out the details on resource that will increase transpo options in the quickly growing SR-9 corridor.
The cities of Marysville and Lake Stevens are developing a 4.7-mile-long paved trail from the south end of the existing Bayview Trail at 64th Street NE (SR 528) in Marysville to the north end of the planned Bayview Trail at 8th Street NE in Lake Stevens.
When the Bayview Trail Connector project is complete, walkers and cyclists will have access to nearly eight miles of paved trail extending from north Lake Stevens through southeast Marysville to the regional Centennial Trail.
A $504,700 grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce is funding trail design to 30 percent completion, but additional funding is needed to complete design and begin construction.
Lake Stevens never used its pandemic stimulus funding, perhaps this is a possible use case. Most municipalities used the benefit to fund visible public improvements or direct give backs and loans to businesses and residents.
The proposed trail follows multiple north-south utility easements and city streets within the cities of Marysville and Lake Stevens, as well as unincorporated Snohomish County.
According to a City of Marysville release, the new trail will follow existing gravel trails and maintenance roads within the utility easements. In some locations, it may be necessary to divert from those established trails and roads to avoid steep slopes, wetlands, or utility infrastructure.
Where the alignment follows city streets, the trail is likely to be a shared-use path on one side of the street or a combination of protected bike lanes and existing sidewalks.
Early in 2022, the Cities of Marysville and Lake Stevens published an initial online questionnaire to get input from the community about the existing conditions in the trail corridor, current and desired uses of the corridor, and potential trail locations. The two cities followed up with another “final” survey in May of 2023.
Additional information is expected to be released pending the completion of the survey analysis.
