Burke–Gilman Trail

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Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox hiking trail

The Burke–Gilman Trail is a rail trail in King County, Washington. The Template:Convert multi-use recreational trail is part of the King County Regional Trail System and occupies an abandoned Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway (SLS&E) corridor.

A portion of the Burke–Gilman trail is managed by the City of Seattle. The trail begins at 11th Avenue NW in Ballard and follows along the Lake Washington Ship Canal and north along Lake Washington, designated as ending in Bothell.

Route

File:Seattle map - Sanborn Perris 1893 - U. District v2.jpg
This 1893 map shows part of the rail route that later became the Burke–Gilman Trail.

The trail is a substantial part of the Template:Convert of signed bike routes in Seattle<ref> {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} </ref> and the Template:Convert of trails in the King County Trails System.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} </ref> A segment of the Burke–Gilman portion, opened in July 2005, runs for Template:Convert from NW 60th Street and Seaview Avenue NW to the Ballard Locks.<ref name=bgtrailext>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The main trail resumes at 11th Avenue NW and NW 45th Street and runs Template:Convert to Blyth Park in Bothell. There, it becomes the Sammamish River Trail segment, which parallels the Sammamish River for Template:Convert to Redmond.<ref name=burke />

The Burke–Gilman trail runs along the Fremont Cut, Lake Union (an old freight depot remains visible at the foot of Stone Way), and through the University of Washington campus. After passing the University Village shopping center, the trail heads up through northeast neighborhoods, alongside the Hawthorne Hills, Laurelhurst and Windermere neighborhoods; through the Sand Point neighborhood, passing Magnuson Park, then alongside Lake Washington from just before the Matthews Beach and Cedar Park neighborhoods of the former Lake City, continuing on through Lake Forest Park and Kenmore to Bothell.<ref name=burkegilmantrailmaps /> The trail throughout is nearly level with few large intersection crossings — it is a former railroad right-of-way.

The trail runs Template:Convert between Ballard and Tracy Owen Station in Kenmore (its initial eastern end), or Template:Convert to Blyth Park. The Seattle Parks Department considers the Burke–Gilman segment of the trail to end in Kenmore;<ref name=burkegilmantrailmaps> {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> while King County considers that the segments divide in Bothell,.<ref name=burke /> The total distance from Golden Gardens Park to Bothell, including the proposed "missing link" through Ballard, is Template:Convert.

Sammamish River Trail

At Blyth Park in Bothell the trail becomes the Sammamish River Trail and continues for Template:Convert to Marymoor Park, Redmond, on Lake Sammamish.<ref name=burke> {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> With the completion of a connector trail through Marymoor Park in May 2009 the trail network continues to the city of Issaquah via the East Lake Sammamish Trail for another Template:Convert. The trail is over the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway (SLS&E) line and in conjunction with Issaquah's Rainier Trail, Preston Trail, and the Preston Snoqualmie Trail.

The Snoqualmie Falls-North Bend link of SLS&E has become the line of the Northwest Railway Museum.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The SLS&E terminated just beyond North Bend in Sallal Prairie. Users of the extensions can continue on the regional trail network at the Snoqualmie Valley Trail in North Bend and connect with the Iron Horse State Park at Rattlesnake Lake.

With the addition of the connector, the longest unbroken segment of the trail currently extends 42 miles.<ref name=eastlakesamm> Template:Cite news</ref>

Extensions

File:Daniel Hunt Gilman 1890.jpg
Daniel Hunt Gilman, Maine-born lawyer, railroad investor. Trail's namesake, along with judge Thomas Burke

Template:As of, there are extensions of the Burke–Gilman Trail at its western end: connecting the short and long segments between the Ballard Locks and 11th Avenue, and a northern extension along Shilshole Bay from NW 60th Street to Golden Gardens Park, and planning for connecting between the Ballard Locks and downtown Ballard at 11th Avenue NW and NW 45th Street.<ref name=bgtrailext />

A major point of contention since the 1990s regarding the remaining "missing link" project was the industrial nature of the Salmon Bay waterfront, through which this portion of the trail would pass. Local business owners voiced concerns about the safety and liability issues inherent in the convergence of Ballard Terminal Railroad trains, trucks, cyclists, and pedestrians. A Citizens group and the city claimed the dangers were being exaggerated.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The trail overall can at times be busy and even crowded.<ref name=burkegilmantrailhistory />

Template:As of, plans to construct the Template:Convert section remain on hold due to design revisions and legal challenges.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A railroad crossing on the trail under the Ballard Bridge was the site of 39 crashes and incidents between 2015 and 2020.<ref name="Times-Rail2023">Template:Cite news</ref> The crossing was replaced in October 2023, shortly after the city council approved its removal.<ref name="Times-Rail2023"/> The city council included a routing along Leary Way instead of Shilshole Avenue, where industrial businesses had opposed the trail's construction, in a transportation levy that will be placed on the November 2024 ballot.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

History

File:Excursion on the SLS&E RR (c 1887), 1201, 1202.jpg
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The trail can trace its origins to the founding of the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway on April 15, 1885, by ten men headed by judge Thomas Burke and Daniel Gilman. In its heyday, Burke and Gilman's road extended from Downtown Seattle north to Arlington and east to Rattlesnake Prairie above Snoqualmie Falls. Taken over by the Northern Pacific Railway around 1890,<ref name="Speidel_1967">Template:Cite book</ref> the line became part of the Burlington Northern Railroad in 1970, and was abandoned in 1971.

On August 19, 1978 the first Template:Convert of the right-of-way from Seattle's Gas Works Park to Kenmore's Tracy Owen Station was opened as a public trail after seven years of advocacy and negotiations and named after the founders of the railroad.<ref name="burkegilmantrailhistory">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Cipalla2019">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

A two-mile section of the trail within Lake Forest Park was temporarily closed for redevelopment from June 2011 to February 2012.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>

Neighborhoods

The trail intersects the following:

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  • Suburban Seattle towns, continuing northeast, east and then south:

See also

References

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Bibliography

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  • Template:Cite book
    Speidel provides a substantial bibliography with extensive primary sources.

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Further reading

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  • {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}, HistoryLink Essay 7049.

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