Grant would fund bike paths throughout Snohomish County
Published 11:02 pm Monday, September 13, 2010
New walkways, bikeways and lighting could be coming to parts of Snohomish County through a federal grant.
Streetlights and sidewalks in Edmonds, bike and walking trails in Lynnwood and Bothell, and sidewalks in Stanwood and Gold Bar and are among the projects that could receive funding.
In all, $3.4 million could be spent on the six projects.
The board of the Puget Sound Regional Council is scheduled to decide Oct. 28 whether to approve the funds. The Seattle-based council is made up of representatives from cities and other jurisdictions in the region. It decides how to distribute about $160 million in federal transportation money in the region each year.
The money comes from a federal fund that can be spent on a variety of transportation-related projects, said Kelly McGourty, a program manager with the Puget Sound Regional Council. The fund has been around since 1992, she said.
Its the most flexible. It can be spent all sorts of different modes of transportation, she said.
Of that pot of money, 10 percent must go to projects such as walkways, bikeways, lighting, historic preservation, beautification or environmental projects, McGourty said.
In downtown Edmonds, $725,000 could go to rebuilding sidewalks and adding street lights to Main Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues. The lighting would match the old-fashioned lights already in place west of Fifth Avenue, city cultural resources director Frances Chapin said.
Right now the lighting is really not adequate and the sidewalks are in really rough shape, she said.
The city also could get $289,000 to add decorative lighting to the stretch of Highway 99 designated by the city as an International District. The stretch between 224th Street SW and 232nd Street SW has a large number of Asian-owned grocery stores, restaurants and other businesses.
The new lighting would supplement artist-designed light poles, signs and a sculpture funded by a previous grant. Those features are expected to be installed next year, Chapin said.
In Lynnwood, $894,000 would help the city fill two gaps in the Interurban Trail, a bike-and-walkway that extends from Shoreline to south Everett.
Most of the trail route is on the Snohomish County PUD right-of-way that was used by the Interurban Trolley in the early 20th century. The route leaves the right-of-way and follows 208th Street SW and 52nd Avenue W., forcing pedestrians and bike-riders onto those streets, said David Mach, a project manager for Lynnwood.
At 212th Street SW, trail users must go onto 63rd Avenue W., 211th Street SW and through South Lynnwood Park to get around a PUD substation.
Its kind of a hodgepodge of bike lanes, no bike lanes, sidewalks and asphalt walkways, Mach said.
The new trail sections would either go onto the PUD right-of-way or, to get around the substation, follow city streets and improve those segments, Mach said.
Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439; sheets@heraldnet.com.
Who could receive funding
n $950,000 for a new asphalt recreational trail from south of Filbert Road to 214th Street SE in Bothell, to connect existing trails.
n $894,000 for connecting the remaining missing links in the Interurban Trail in Lynnwood.
n $725,000 for lighting and sidewalk improvements in downtown Edmonds.
n $458,000 for a walkway along U.S. 2 in Gold Bar.
n $289,000 for lighting on Edmonds International District on Highway 99.
n $63,000 new curbs, sidewalks and room for landscaping along Highway 532 in downtown Stanwood.
Comment in writing by Oct. 5 or at meetings on Oct. 14 and Oct. 28 in Seattle. For more information, call 206-464-7090 or go to http://tinyurl.com/PSRCFunds.
