Lynnwood wants to link up city’s existing paths into one trail

LYNNWOOD — A map of Lynnwood shows a city sliced by highways into sections.

Lynn Sordel and Jared Bond kept looking at that map. How could they better connect those sections?

Light rail is coming to Lynnwood, and they have maybe a decade to get the city ready. Transit officials estimate that at least 20,000 daily travelers will converge on the city to make use of the rail stop. They will need to be able to bike and walk and otherwise move around town. Cars won’t do.

What about a trail? The idea is germinating.

The proposed trail, tentatively called “Center to Sound,” would connect City Center, at I-5 and 196th Street SW, with the Meadowdale Beach Park trail leading to Puget Sound. For the most part, the new trail would follow Scriber Creek and link up existing ribbons of asphalt. They’re looking at a total distance of about four miles.

Sordel, the parks director, imagines the trail as a spine through Lynnwood, “a place to go or get somewhere,” he said. He managed the creation of a similar trail at his previous job in Florida.

“Consistently we’re hearing from our community that it’s important to be able to get around,” he said. “If we can create something like that, we have done something huge.”

Jared Bond, as the city’s environmental and surface water supervisor, helps manage flooding and drainage. He’d like the trail to allow more public access to the city’s streams and wetlands.

Mayor Nicola Smith and her husband, Del, took a tour of existing sections of the trail in May. Congressman Rick Larsen got his own brief tour during a stop in the city Tuesday.

In last month’s State of the City address, Smith called the completed trail “a future dream.”

“It’s such a great idea, I want to give it feet,” she said in a recent interview.

The mayor assigned a photography team — her husband and two family friends — to document the missing links in the trail. She sees the project as becoming a safe, pretty connection between neighborhoods, parks and schools.

“There’s a lot of community rallying around that,” Smith said. “This is what our community wants.”

The next step will be commissioning a study to lay out options for the exact trail path and to determine whether the project is possible.

The city already owns property north and south of the beach park, Sordel said, including the recent acquisition of 13 acres known as Seabrook Heights.

A few years ago, REI employee volunteers created a primitive path from the bottom of Lund’s Gulch that nearly reaches the county-owned Meadowdale Beach trail, Sordel said. That path would become part of the new trail.

The trail could provide a key transportation link for folks in the Meadowdale area and other parts of the city west of Highway 99, Sordel said. Crossing Highway 99, particularly in and between Lynnwood and Everett, is one of the most dangerous choices for pedestrians, according to accident data. A pedestrian bridge is on the table as part of the Center to Sound plan.

“It gets people moving and keeps them moving, safely,” Sordel said.

The trail also would go hand in hand with efforts to combat the flooding problems along Scriber Creek, Bond said. An ongoing study of Scriber Creek got Bond thinking.

The city owns patches of land throughout the creek’s corridor, and has an eye on future buyouts or easements for low-lying, flood-prone properties. Allowing access to those areas could give people a sense of stewardship over streams and wetlands, Bond said.

“I don’t want to just put a fence up and keep people out,” he said.

If the city decides to move ahead with the project, Bond and Sordel plan to pursue grant funding. The combined transportation and environmental aspects of the project should give them an edge, they said.

Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Trader Joe’s customers walk in and out of the store on Monday, Nov. 20, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Trader Joe’s opens this week at Everett Mall

It’s a short move from a longtime location, essentially across the street, where parking was often an adventure.

Ian Bramel-Allen enters a guilty plea to second-degree murder during a plea and sentencing hearing on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Deep remorse’: Man gets 17 years for friend’s fatal stabbing in Edmonds

Ian Bramel-Allen, 44, pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder for killing Bret Northcutt last year at a WinCo.

Firefighters respond to a small RV and a motorhome fire on Tuesday afternoon in Marysville. (Provided by Snohomish County Fire Distrct 22)
1 injured after RV fire, explosion near Marysville

The cause of the fire in the 11600 block of 81st Avenue NE had not been determined, fire officials said.

Ashton Dedmon appears in court during his sentencing hearing on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Everett Navy sailor sentenced to 90 days for fatal hit and run

Ashton Dedmon crashed into Joshua Kollman and drove away. Dedmon, a petty officer on the USS Kidd, reported he had a panic attack.

A kindergarten student works on a computer at Emerson Elementary School on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘¡Una erupción!’: Dual language programs expanding to 10 local schools

A new bill aims to support 10 new programs each year statewide. In Snohomish County, most follow a 90-10 model of Spanish and English.

Logo for news use featuring the Tulalip Indian Reservation in Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Woman drives off cliff, dies on Tulalip Reservation

The woman fell 70 to 80 feet after driving off Priest Point Drive NW on Sunday afternoon.

Everett
Boy, 4, survives fall from Everett fourth-story apartment window

The child was being treated at Seattle Children’s. The city has a limited supply of window stops for low-income residents.

People head out to the water at low tide during an unseasonably warm day on Saturday, March 16, 2024, at Lighthouse Park in Mukilteo, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Everett shatters record high temperature by 11 degrees

On Saturday, it hit 73 degrees, breaking the previous record of 62 set in 2007.

Snohomish County Fire District #4 and Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue respond to a motor vehicle collision for a car and pole. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene, near Triangle Bait & Tackle in Snohomish. (Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office)
Police: Troopers tried to stop driver before deadly crash in Snohomish

The man, 31, was driving at “a high rate of speed” when he crashed into a traffic light pole and died, investigators said.

Alan Dean, who is accused of the 1993 strangulation murder of 15-year-old Bothell girl Melissa Lee, appears in court during opening statements of his trial on Monday, March 18, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
31 years later, trial opens in Bothell teen’s brutal killing

In April 1993, Melissa Lee’s body was found below Edgewater Creek Bridge. It would take 27 years to arrest Alan Dean in her death.

Logo for news use featuring the municipality of Snohomish in Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Man dies after crashing into pole in Snohomish

Just before 1 a.m., the driver crashed into a traffic light pole at the intersection of 2nd Street and Maple Avenue.

Bodies of two men recovered after falling into Eagle Falls near Index

Two men fell into the falls and did not resurface Saturday, authorities said. After a recovery effort, two bodies were found.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.