North Sound News

Lynnwood planning major trail improvement ahead of light rail

LYNNWOOD, Wash. — The city of Lynnwood is embarking on a massive trail improvement project ahead of the light rail expansion.

If you’re in search of someone passionate about parks, look no further than Lynn Sordel.

“It’s important for our community—they voiced to us how important it is to be connected,” Sordel told us, which is why the Lynnwood Parks director is so frustrated with Scriber Creek Trail.

“This has been an issue for us for the last 10 years,” he told us when we met him on the trail that weaves together three Lynnwood parks.

The trail is 1 1/2 miles from Wilcox Park to the Lynnwood Transit Center, but it’s deteriorating, floods regularly and is certainly not ADA compliant.

“Our disabled population have a real problem [accessing the trail],” Sordel explained.

Particularly the section closest to the transit center-- which will soon be a station for Sound Transit’s light rail—is in the poorest shape by far with cracks and bulges that are dangerous liabilities.

But not for much longer; City council Tuesday night approved about a third of the design.  The improvement project in its entirety includes wider, elevated sidewalks.

“The average width of the trail will be 10 feet—it will actually be wider in certain areas,” Sordel said.  “Our goal is to create a safe and accessible trail that will encourage people to use their bicycle or walk safely to the new transit center.”

Scriber Creek Trail regulars are excited for the changes but likely no one is quite as excited as the man who sees every park’s potential—and especially this one’s.

“I think it’s part of our mission, part of the community’s vision and our park plan that we adopted,” Sordel concluded.

The city plans to break ground on the project in 2021 and have the whole thing complete by 2024 when light rail comes to Lynnwood.