Repairs to flood protection structures on the Snoqualmie River between Duvall and Carnation will force a closure on the popular Snoqualmie Valley Trail between now and Oct. 31.
Trail closure sign on Snoqualmie Valley Trail
Date of the closure is set to begin June 1, but crews already had the trail closed down today.
The work will block off-road access between Duvall and Carnation for the entire summer.
No detour
The closure runs between 1-1/2 miles south of Northeast 124th Street on the north and 2 miles north of the Stillwater Natural Area trailhead parking lot in the south.
Although the work zone is a relatively short area at the so-called “car body curve”, there is no way around it. As is often the case in King County, no trail detours are available. The county cites “unsafe conditions.”
Avoiding the blockage in this case would require use of State Route 203 for approximately 3.3 miles, an inadvisable route because of truck traffic and lack of adequate road shoulders for walking or bicycling.
The Snoqualmie Valley Trail runs for 31 miles between Duvall and Rattlesnake Lake, where it connects to the John Wayne Pioneer Trail in the state’s Iron Horse State Park.
Contract
The work will repair the Sinnema Quaale Upper Revetment that takes a beating during floods on the river, according to a press release from the Water and Land Resources Division. The river passes between the rail-trail, part of the old Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, and State Route 203. Previous floods have damaged the trail and threaten wash-outs on the state highway.
The work involves repairing or replacing about 750 feet of bank revetment. The common name of “car body curve” comes from the use of rusty car bodies to shore up the river bank. A 1,100-foot section of trail also will be repaired.
The Sinnema Quaale names comes from early Dutch and Norwegian settlers, whose descendants till live in the area today.
See closure map below; King County press release.
Closed section in red
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