Alert 7/18: ‘Months-long’ closure of Cross Kirkland Corridor trail at NE 85th Street

Detour map from Kirkland.

Construction to build a new biking and walking pathway bridge along NE 85th Street will close a short section of the Cross-Kirkland Corridor trail starting July 18. The closure is expected to last months," according to the project webpage. No exact date for reopening is currently available.

There will be two official detours. The shorter non-ADA option routes people a block east on NE 87th Street to 114th Ave NE, then back to the trail via a gravel path. Since the CKC trail is itself gravel, it's likely that nearly all trail users can just use the shorter detour route. However, anyone who is not able to navigate the path must detour down to 6th Street.

This section of the path project west of the Kirkland Way/114th Ave NE intersection is funded by Sound Transit but managed by the City of Kirkland. The new bike/walk bridge over the trail is part of a pathway to connect to the I-405/NE 85th Street Bus Rapid Transit project. This bizarre three-tiered intersection will have transit, express toll lane, biking and walking connections on the middle tier. It could be a more comfortable space to walk or bike, or it could be a really strange place to be. I guess we'll find out soon.

From WSDOT.

More details on the upcoming trail closure from Kirkland:

As early as July 18, Kirkland's contractor for the NE 85th Street shared-use pathway project will close the Cross Kirkland Corridor trail around NE 85th Street as they will be working overhead building a pedestrian bridge.

Two detours - an ADA-accessible detour route and a non ADA-accessible detour route - will be posted for users to navigate around the construction zone (see image below). This is an extended, months-long closure and we realize it is a significant impact to the community.

The shared-use pathway project is expected to be complete in May 2026.