Urban Trails to Connect Neighbors With Nature, Each Other

Community members in Seattle's Rainier Valley know that you don't always have to go far from home to get a great trail experience. Sometimes, you can even create one in your own backyard.

At the end of September, Seattle City Council approved a $100,000 grant for the Cheasty Greenspace Trails and Bike Park, bringing an urban trail experience to one of the city's most diverse neighborhoods.

New urban trails revitalize Cheasty Greenspace

Since 2008, neighbors in Rainier Valley and Beacon Hill have been working to make Cheasty Greenspace a welcoming community gathering place after it had suffered years of neglect. Overgrown with invasive ivy and occasionally used as a dumping ground, it was not an inviting space, but the grant from the city will help realize a plan for a trail and bike park.

"This grant [is] the first major step in its fund-raising process to restore and reclaim Cheasty Greenspace while engaging with the community to reimagine and reconnect the park for everyone," the Friends of Cheasty Greenspace at Mt. View said in a press release.

The greenspace also received a grant this month from the King County Conservation District to develop education signage in the park.

The trails plan states, "Because of the greenbelt and the arrangement of long blocks and discontinuous streets, pedestrians from Lockmore who want to walk to Rainier Valley must travel significant distances in the opposite direction of their destination. With the attractions of Columbia City, the Boys and Girls Club at Rainier Vista, the Rainier Community Center, and especially with the opening of the Edmunds Light Rail station, Lockmore residents are frustrated at their lack of safe, convenient, and direct pedestrian access."

Currently, some trails have already been developed in the southern portion of the Greenspace at Mountain View. More trails will soon be built north of Columbian Way.

This project is a great example illustrating how urban trails can be both an alternative transportation option and a great space for families to play.

WTA is happy to join REI, The Mountaineers, Cascade Bicycle Club and others in supporting new trails at Cheasty. A walking path has already been developed with mountain bike trails planned for the near future.

Get involved in making the trails a reality

Work parties are open to the public and are held the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of every month. More information can be found at Cheasty.org.