Letter to the editor: Advocating for a pedestrian/bike bridge over Lyon Creek ravine

Editor:

Every five years our city must adopt a new RPOS (Recreation, Parks and Open Space) masterplan. Our city staff does an excellent job securing grants, funding some our our capital projects, like our new fishing pier. However, to secure a grant, the project must first be on a project list.

The 2022 RPOS draft is now up for review and should be voted on by the Recreation Parks Advisory Committee on Nov. 9. The plan will then be forwarded to the Planning Commission and then to the City Council for approval. Please take a few minutes or so and review the plan on the city’s website. Note trail goals on page 24 and trails starting on page 91 and Figures 31 & 32.

Now consider a pedestrian/bicycle suspension bridge at 228th Street, from 53rd Avenue (the Pavilion) to 50th Avenue. This bridge would:
-provide a safe route to Terrace Park Elementary School,
-provide west side access to Cedar Plaza,
-provide east side access to the Pavilion and downtown,
-provide east side access to CT bus 130.

The bridge meets the objectives of trail goals on page 24.

What would this bridge look like? Visit “the Ravine experience” suspension bridge at the Bellevue Botanical Garden, either in person or online. Visit Androscoggin Swinging Bridge in Maine, (saveourbridge.org). It could look like our new fishing pier.

However, the 228th Street bridge will only become a reality if it is listed on a project list in the 2022 RPOS — see the Capital Facilities Plan on page 103.

Why isn’t the bridge in the draft RPOS? The answer is simple. In the October 2020 survey and the 2021 online open house, no one asked.

If you would like a suspension bridge in the center of our city over Lyon Creek ravine, contact our city at: mltrecreation@mltwa.gov and request they include the 228th Street bridge in the 2022 PROS.

Respectfully,

Dale Jeremiah
Mountlake Terrace

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