As the clouds clear and the weather warms, you can expect more and more people to be out and about, especially on local trails.
But those who are looking forward to finally being able to walk across the White River on the Foothills Trail will have to wait a bit longer.
It’s been longed planned by not only Enumclaw and Buckley, but King and Pierce counties as well, to build a pedestrian bridge over the body of water separating the two local cities; doing so would mean hikers and bikers could travel the Foothills Trail from Enumclaw, though Buckley, into Orting, and end in Puyallup in one long, uninterrupted trip.
King County, the lead agency on the project, initially (and optimistically) announced in 2019 that bridge construction could begin in 2021.
But as of June 2021, the county was still getting the appropriate permits from the city of Buckley, the Courier-Herald reported.
Buckley City Administrator Dave Schmidt said that since June, the Buckley Hearing Examiner approved a King County shoreline conditional use permit and variance on Sept. 28, 2021; the city of Buckley approved King County’s land disturbing activity permit on December 1, 2021; and the Buckley City Council approved an interlocal agreement (ILA) between the city and county for maintenance and use on Dec. 14, 2021. Buckley officials approved of the ILA again in February 2022 after review from the state Department of Ecology.
“However, note both Buckley and King County need to mutually sign the updated ILA and maintenance/use agreement, which has not yet happened,” Schmidt said, adding that the updated ILA needs to once again go through the county council for approval.
According to Doug Williams, King County’s media relations coordinator, “The agreement with Buckley, along with a Washington State Department of Natural Resources aquatic authorization agreement to construct the bridge over the White River, are part of a larger legislative package up for approval with the King County Council,” he wrote in an email interview. “That legislative package is expected to be approved in coordination with soliciting the project for public bid, which comes in May. The bid documents are currently under final review.”
Williams added that bridge construction is expected to begin this summer and last about 18 months, opening to the public in early 2024.
As of April 22, the project design was nearly 100 percent complete, and final adjustments were being made before the legislative package was placed on the King County Council’s docket.
The estimated cost of this project has doubled since design started in 2020. At 30 percent completion, it was estimated construction would cost about $7 million — the current estimate is now $13.5 million.
“The increase in cost is partially due to a change in regulatory measures that necessitated a third additional span for the bridge on the King County side of the White River,” Williams said. “This design revision accommodates potential future flood events as was required by King County Permitting. Additional cost increases are also a direct result of the regional construction inflation that we are experiencing.”
Despite the doubling of the estimated construction cost, the project is still fully funded.
The vast majority of the money being used for the project — more than $10 million — comes from King County Park Levy revenue and an emergency contingency fund.
Another $2.8 million was given to the project by the State Resource Conservation Office’s Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program; $266,000 from Pierce County; $80,000 from the city of Buckley; and another $50,000 from the Foothills Rails to Trails Coalition, a Pierce-County based non-profit formed in 1984 to lobby for the creation of the Foothills Trail and its continued construction and expansion.
