I read online that the Maple Street underpass at Swamp Creek would reopen the evening of October 31 (after eight months of construction) and I thought I’d take a look the morning of November first. The first thing I came to was the Interurban Trail crossing at 212th street. This was the first time I’d ridden the trail there since April when it still detoured and went by the tennis courts. I was skeptical about the new design since it looked like a long stretch protected bike lane going against traffic, but they did a great job and despite negotiating a couple of driveways the trail segment is short and set way back from the street. Won’t miss that chicane we used to have to get through!
The next development was less positive – the trail is now closed at 52nd (where it runs next to the school bus lot.) There’s no detour, no indication how long it will be closed, just a sign and a fence. I rode over to 200th and then back through the transit center parking lots only to find that the bridge over 44th was closed as well! Light rail comes to Lynnwood in 2024 but it is going to be a long five years.
The trail behind Target was open (and even blown clear of leaves.) The new underpass has a bike lane. I don’t understand why it took eight months but now that it’s done it’s nice.
The bonus came where you take Filbert (SR 524) to get from Larch to Locust. Since the last time I was there they’ve inserted two traffic circles – one before and one after the 405 underpass. We’ll see how good oncoming traffic is about yielding to a bike in the roundabout, but this morning traffic was light and it worked really well.