More repairs for bridge: Snoqualmie Valley Trail to close ?July 20 to 31
Published 1:50 pm Thursday, July 16, 2015
A safety project to replace rotted portions of the Meadowbrook Bridge along King County Parks’ Snoqualmie Valley Trail will require a two week closure of the trail, July 20-31.
The repairs were identified this spring, when county staff replaced a wooden staircase that had been damaged in a May 27, 2014 arson incident, but were not related to the damage from the fire.
The fire most significantly affected the north staircase, which was closed until repairs were completed this spring.
“It was very bad, we removed every bit of it,” said Jason Rich, construction project manager with King County Parks.
The bridge remained accessible from the south side in the past year.
When repairs start next week, the southern access to the bridge will be cut off, and the bridge will be closed.
However, Rich said, the north staircase will still be accessible. People can walk up to the bridge, but not onto it, during the repairs.
Prior to the bridge closing, trail users might also experience delays as crews erect the scaffolding that is needed to make the bridge repairs.
Asked about the timing of the repairs, Rich said, “We tried to avoid the weekend, but with the extent of the work that wasn’t feasible.”
The project will involve removing portions of the railing and lifting out 4-by-12-foot concrete deck panels to replace some of the rotted timbers, or stringers, and pile caps in the old railroad trestle bridge.
The railing and concrete panels will be re-installed once the timbers have been replaced.
The $45,000 project is funded through the King County Parks Levy and is part of the ongoing bridge and trestle program, which inspects and maintains the 76 bridges and trestles along the county’s 175-mile regional trail system.
The 31-mile-long Snoqualmie Valley Trail is the longest trail in the county’s system. Earlier this year, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis designated the trail as a national recreation trail, adding it to the National Trails System. The Mount Si trail also received the designation.
