If you want to ride the length of the Cedar River Trail this summer, you better do it before July 8.
More flood and erosion control work along the Cedar River this summer means another section of the Cedar River Trail near Maple Valley will be closed. This marks the fourth year in a row that a section of the trail has been put off-limits to bicyclists and other trail users.
View Cedar River Trail in a larger map
Work begins July 8 that will close the Cedar River Trail between 16916 Renton-Maple Valley Rd. S.E., to the trail’s intersection at 201st Place Southeast. That’s roughly a section between the Southeast Jones Road overpass and Cedar River Road intersection.
Because the trail is wedged between State Route 169 and the Cedar River, the county is not establishing a detour around the work area.
Heavy construction equipment will be used to place large rocks to shore up the riverbank. The county says erosion threatens the a fiber optic cable, State Route 169, as well as the Cedar River Trail.
The trail is expected to reopen again by late September.
The old rail-trail runs for 17 miles from the mouth of the Cedar River at Lake Washington to Landsburg at the foot of the Cascade foothills. The Cedar River meanders in its channel along the length of the trail, closer in some locations than others.
Occasional heavy river flows in the spring have threatened the trail.
King County lists other trails at its website.
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I rode the Cedar River trail from Renton to Landsburg yesterday,
July 9th, 2013. No construction is yet present in the announced
closed section, nor were there any barriers. There were signs
announcing the closure dates (July 8 – Sept 20).
The (incipient) closed section of trail is dead straight and is
less than half a mile long. The construction section is only
about a quarter of that, the rest of the closure is just to get
you to the next connecting road. They appear to have tried to
make this easy for us.
That section of trail is only a few feet from SR 169/Maple
Valley Highway. SR 169 at that point is 2 lanes with a double
yellow line. It has 8 foot shoulders with 6 inch rumble strips.
The closure runs from intersection to intersection. I believe
the roads were signed as 188th and 201st on the signs, but
i could be wrong. On the map they are listed as private roads
with no names.
If they don’t mark an official detour, bypassing the closure on
to the highway shoulder for that short section will be very easy
and as safe as any road riding. The only issue will be a possible
delay waiting for a break in the motor traffic. It’s an annoyance,
but it’s less than 1/2 mile on a 16 mile trail. The trail won’t
be inaccessible, just one brief detour, which hasn’t started yet.
map: http://goo.gl/maps/42thQ
An eastbound cyclist would turn right off the trail, go 10 feet
to the highway, wait until motor traffic clears, cross 2 lanes,
ride the shoulder for half a mile, and again wait for traffic
before turning left, and then right back onto the trail.
Returning to Renton will be even easier without having to cross
motor traffic.
Last year they coned off the north shoulder and made it a narrow
makeshift two-way bike lane to avoid cyclists having to cross
the flow of motor traffic. I don’t know if they will do that this year,
but personally, i found that felt very unsafe. I would rather ride
the shoulder in the direction i’m going.
[…] Biking Bis has the details: […]
[…] Biking Bis reported on the closure and created this map showing the work area: […]