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crock
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crock
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PostWed Jul 20, 2022 3:49 pm 
I biked the Snoqualmie Valley Trail today from Remlinger Farm near Carnation to the section line between sections 19 and 20 (1/4 mile east of Tokul Road SE). This former branch of the Chicago Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad went from Cedar Falls (Rattlesnake Lake south of North Bend) north to Everett. The branch line was built in 1911 and abandoned in 1973. https://www.traillink.com/trail-history/snoqualmie-valley-trail/ Using King County “Forward Thrust” bond initiative money, 20 miles of the railroad line were opened as a trail in 1986 with more miles added in 1996 and 2000. There is a 1˝ mile gap in the Snoqualmie Valley Trail where the old railroad line goes by the former Weyerhauser Snoqualmie Mill Pond. While King County’s iMap shows almost all of this 1˝ mile section is owned by King County Parks, the 3/8 of a mile just north of where the line crosses the Snoqualmie River is still owned by Weyerhauser. Mill operations ceased in 1993 and the remaining wood-finishing and dry kiln operations ceased in 2003 – almost 20 years ago. Weyerhauser has been doing environmental cleanup of the mill site with permits from the Washington Department of Ecology. So, when will this missing link in the Snoqualmie Valley Trail be opened as a trail for public use?

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thunderhead
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PostSat Jul 23, 2022 8:10 am 
I saw it completed in some tentative future plan king county announced recently. So people are talking about but from my memory there are no solid plans? The SVT is awesome(especially if you consider it an extension of the iron horse) and it will be even more awesome once that final link is completed. The roads connecting the gap dont look particularly safe.

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Randito
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PostSat Jul 23, 2022 8:25 am 
I have ridden the gap many times. There is some traffic negotiating the roundabout, but most of that traffic is not traveling along the roads you follow to bridge the gap. The biggest pain in the butt of bridging the gap is pushing your bike up from the SVT to the road and then worse carrying your bike up the stairs from the road to the SVT bridge over the river

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Schroder
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PostSat Jul 23, 2022 11:19 am 
crock wrote:
This former branch of the Chicago Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad went from Cedar Falls (Rattlesnake Lake south of North Bend) north to Everett
Actually it went down the valley to Monroe and connected to the Burlington Northern tracks.

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thunderhead
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PostMon Jul 25, 2022 6:47 pm 
Randito wrote:
I have ridden the gap many times. There is some traffic negotiating the roundabout, but most of that traffic is not traveling along the roads you follow to bridge the gap.
Either im getting soft in my age or the roads are getting busier, cause im not going to make a habit of going past the snoqualmie bridge, when i can go essentially infinite distance the other direction.

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crock
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PostTue Jul 26, 2022 1:29 pm 
Schroder wrote:
crock wrote:
This former branch of the Chicago Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad went from Cedar Falls (Rattlesnake Lake south of North Bend) north to Everett
Actually it went down the valley to Monroe and connected to the Burlington Northern tracks.
I've also heard that the Milwaukee Road only went to Monroe, but that seems to be incorrect. The Everett branch ran from Cedar Falls through Monroe and up to Everett. It was built in 1911 and abandoned in 1939 after which the Milwaukee Road used the Great Northern tracks between Monroe and Everett. That was long before the BNSF or even the Burlington Northern existed. I hopped Burlington Northern freight trains in the 1980s. https://www.traillink.com/trail-history/snoqualmie-valley-trail/

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Secret Agent Man
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PostThu Jul 28, 2022 3:09 pm 
I went ahead and asked King County Parks about this since I was curious too, this is what I got:
Quote:
Thank you for your inquiry. Developing a new regional trail segment along the Snoqualmie Valley Trail through the Snoqualmie Mill “gap” is, indeed, planned by King County Parks. The 1.5-mile-long gap would follow the historic rail bed from near the Tokul Tunnel at Tokul Road to the existing trail river bridge at Reinig Road. King County has acquired most of the necessary right-of-way, but we are still negotiating with one property owner for the acquisition of the final segment between the Mill site and Reinig Road. Some areas at the Mill site have some residual contamination, which makes acquisitions more challenging. Hopefully, Parks will be able to secure the remaining corridor soon. Once this acquisition is complete Parks can evaluate route in detail and trail start design activities. Unfortunately, a specific trail development schedule is not yet available due to the ongoing negotiations. Parks intends to undertake the project as soon as possible, however, once acquisitions are completed, site conditions evaluated, and funding is available.
So, no one knows when it will be done but I bet not any time soon.

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Schroder
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PostThu Jul 28, 2022 5:07 pm 
crock wrote:
I've also heard that the Milwaukee Road only went to Monroe, but that seems to be incorrect. The Everett branch ran from Cedar Falls through Monroe and up to Everett. It was built in 1911 and abandoned in 1939 after which the Milwaukee Road used the Great Northern tracks between Monroe and Everett. That was long before the BNSF or even the Burlington Northern existed. I hopped Burlington Northern freight trains in the 1980s.
Yes, I forgot that I actually lived next to a section of that right-of-way just west of Snohomish. Between Monroe and Snohomish the Milwaukie tracks and Northern Pacific tracks were side-by-side. In Monroe the track went over a covered bridge on the Skykomish River to go south, which was torn down after Milwaukie went bankrupt.

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Randito
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PostThu Jul 28, 2022 5:41 pm 
Secret Agent Man wrote:
I went ahead and asked King County Parks about this since I was curious too, this is what I got:
Secret Agent Man wrote:
So, no one knows when it will be done but I bet not any time soon.
"One property owner" -- we might have to wait for them to die and then some. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Macefield

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crock
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PostThu Jul 28, 2022 6:24 pm 
Secret Agent Man wrote:
I went ahead and asked King County Parks about this since I was curious too, this is what I got:
Thanks for getting that information.
Randito wrote:
"One property owner" -- we might have to wait for them to die and then some.
According to King County's iMap, the one property owner is Weyerhauser....

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