Bridge spans to be up-cycled for trails

Ferry walkways to be reused on Puget Sound to Pacific

An elevated walkway being removed from the Colman Dock ferry terminal starting this weekend is bound for re-use on the Puget Sound to Pacific trail corridor – a combination of the Olympic Discovery Trail and Sound to Olympics Trail in Kitsap, Jefferson and Clallam counties.

The temporary walkway comes down as a new, permanent pedestrian bridge has opened from the Washington State Ferries terminal to First Avenue at Marion Street.

Five of the eight segments from the old span, totaling over 350 feet, are being donated to Clallam County and facilitated by the Puget Sound to Pacific Collaborative. The bridge segments will be trucked away early Saturday morning and stored near Port Angeles.

The walkway segments will eventually be re-used as multi-use bridges along the Puget Sound to Pacific corridor, a planned 200-mile multi-use trail system from the ferry terminals on Puget Sound to the Pacific Ocean at LaPush.

The donation was initiated by the Puget Sound to Pacific Collaborative – an initiative of the Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation, the North Kitsap Trails Association, and the Peninsula Trails Coalition – and approved by the Seattle Department of Transportation.

“The walkway structures are great assets, and can see new use at a number of points along the Puget Sound to Pacific Trail,” said Mary Meier, Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation executive director. “We’re grateful to Seattle for making these available for public use elsewhere, as the new trail network builds out.”

The elevated walkway had been in service for several years during construction of the new Washington State Ferries terminal at Colman Dock and Seattle’s major waterfront redevelopment. It carried pedestrians to and from the terminal to Pioneer Square along Columbia Street and Western Avenue.

The new passenger walkway connects the terminal with First Avenue at Marion Street.

PS2P Collaborative recently sponsored a successful federal grant application that will bring more than $16.13 million to 14 western Washington agencies to plan and design more than 30 projects along the Olympic Discovery Trail and the Sound to Olympics Trail. The Collaborative led the effort to reuse the temporary bridge components to advance the Puget Sound to Pacific trail network.

The trail system will connect existing and planned sections of the Sound to Olympics Trail and the Olympic Discovery Trail. The route from the Bainbridge Island WSF ferry terminal to La Push is the westernmost leg of the Rails to Trails Conservancy’s Great American Rail Trail, from Washington DC to the Washington Coast.

This article was written for and posted on PS2P.org, the website of the Puget Sound to Pacific Collaboration, a joint initiative of the Bainbridge Island Parks & Trail Foundation, North Kitsap Trails Association and the Peninsula Trails Coalition. Used with permission.