Update Jan. 6, 2015 — Workers are shooting for the Green River Trail to reopen in Kent by the end of January 2015, weather permitting. Basically some hand-rail work needs to be completed above the riverbank and some equipment is still using the trail. Meanwhile, the Interurban Trail detour is still open.
April 3, 2014 — More work is beginning on the Green River levees in Kent that will require closing a section of the Green River Trail for the rest of the year.
Green River Trail detour in red
The bike trail will be closed between South 180th Street and South 200th Street, a distance of about 2.4 miles.
The detour between Fort Dent and South 200th Street uses the Interurban Trail and South 196th Street. It omits about 5 miles of the Green River Trail.
The city of Kent is shoring up the Briscoe and Desimone levees to protect the area from flooding. The city says the Federal Emergency Management Agency de-certified the levees, which means property owners need to buy flood insurance until the agency re-certifies them.
A project last year that closed a section of the Green River Trail around Hawley Road was part of the upgrading project.
Many cyclists who enjoy riding the Green River Trail and Interurban Trail loop will no doubt remember when a 12-mile section of the Green River Trail was closed in the fall of 2009 as temporary sandbags were deposited on the trail.
The sandbags remained for three years until the Army Corps of Engineers could be assured that the Howard Hanson Dam upstream was strong enough to hold back flood waters.
The upcoming contract will be similar to the work completed on the Boeing levee in the area of the Three Friends Fishing Hole rest stop last year.
Ken Langholz, Kent engineering supervisor, told the Kent Reporter that the trail is will be closed until December.
Information about the Briscoe/Desimone levee project and the Green River Levee Improvement Program.
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