Dembowski begins a process to bridge the gap in the Interurban Trail

The Interurban Trail stops at 200th Street in Shoreline and breaks east before continuing over State Route 104 — a highway intersection that sees more than 41,000 daily cars. (Screenshot via Greater Northshore Bike Connector Map)

Last year, when King County voters approved Proposition 1’s six-year, $1.45 billion parks levy, King County Councilmember Rod Dembowski planted a seed for the Interurban Trail, the roughly 30-mile-long path following an old rail line that once connected Everett to Seattle.

“For a century or more, that corridor has connected the region — until we took out the trolley a long time ago and built a highway across it, and disrupted that connection,” Dembowski said Friday. “And it’s long past time to restore it in a safe way.”

During an event at Shoreline’s Echo Lake Park, Dembowski explained that he secured $5 million of the money generated through the levy to reconnect the Interurban Trail from its King County endpoint, near the Aurora Village Transit Center, to its Snohomish County endpoint on the other side of State Route 104/N 205th St.

“This is just the beginning, but it is, I think, the first sign of real forward momentum to really reconnect King County with Snohomish County in a safe way, and really complete this regional trail network,” Dembowski said.

The Interurban Trail descends from the Everett-Seattle Interurban rail line, which ran from 1910 to 1939, and ultimately became a utility corridor. In the 1990s, Snohomish County and the cities of Lynnwood and Everett opened an 11.8-mile pedestrian and cycling route along that path. 

Shoreline began its development of the Interurban in the mid-2000s. From Shoreline heading south, the trail winds down a combination of protected bike lanes and sharrow-marked streets to the Fremont Bridge and into Downtown Seattle.

Rod Dembowski, King County Councilmember

Dembowski gave credit to North Sound Bicycle Advocates (NSBA), a nonprofit organization that works to improve infrastructure, road safety and promote cycling in North King and South Snohomish counties.

In 2024, amid a push by advocates to close the Interurban gap, NSBA brought Dembowski to visit the trail on a walking tour. 

From the Aurora Village Transit Center in Shoreline, he saw the end of the existing trail, forcing travelers to cut east, then north, to cross the state highway and rejoin the trail.

He remembered watching as a lone cyclist struggled to find the trail and continue their ride. 

And, according to Washington State Department of Transportation data, the intersection of State Route 104/N 205th and Meridian Avenue North/76th Avenue West averages about 41,000 cars daily — about 12,000 more than the intersection of Aurora Avenue and 205th Street, half a mile away. That tour, he said, compelled him to act.

The parks levy included major investments into King County’s regional trail system, Dembowski said, but none for the “missing link” to the Interurban Trail — until he included the $5 million set-aside as a “down payment” on the work. He also carved out funding from the County budget that assigned staff to lead the project forward, beginning with a study of what’s possible.

“My idea was to use our knowledge and capabilities as a regional government to fulfill that regional leadership role here across the governments and bring some starter money to it,” Dembowski said. “Community advocates can only go so far. At some point, the government needs to respond.”

Edmonds resident Gordon Black, who serves as vice president of NSBA, said that Dembowski has encouraged him and his fellow advocates to “think big.” He feels the best option for connection would be a bridge spanning State Route 104.

“We feel very excited that we’ve made progress in getting a study, and then the next installment will be to work with state and federal officials to get funding for construction,” Black said. He estimates that a bridge project would cost between $12 million and $16 million. “We believe that we’ll let the experts, the engineers and others determine the range of options,” he said.

Dembowski also observed the power — and potential — of the trail as a transit project connecting bus transit to light rail, which could bring additional funding.

When asked, Dembowski declined to guess when the Interurban gap may be closed.

“I think maybe, in six to nine months, we’ll have a better understanding of what the timeline may be,” he said.

As for his goal?

“I want to see the vanquishment of the missing link. I want to see the folks that we’ve seen coming by here on bicycles and wheelchairs — walking, biking, rolling, strollering — to be able to go all the way north, and for our friends from the north to come south,” Dembowski said.

--David Mendez is the publisher of The Osprey

--Republished from MyEdmondsNews.com