Seattle Times: Buckley and Enumclaw residents are walking and biking in large numbers with SR-410 bridge closed

Seattle Times photographer Kevin Clark captured some great images of people walking and biking across the Foothills Trail bridge of the White River, which is currently the only direct connection between King County's Enumclaw (population 12,700) and Pierce County's Buckley (population 5,300). With work to reopen the highway bridge nearby expected to continue until November, people are figuring out how to get themselves and their wares across the river without driving the 45-60 extra minutes the highway detour requires.

The photos show a stream of people crossing the bridge, most of whom are walking. But some are biking, some have scooters, some are pushing carts full of stuff, and at least one guy was pushing a motorcycle. One Enumclaw woman had a child and a dog in the front of her cargo bike. Many people are parking near the bridge and walking from there, though King County Metro has also rerouted the 915 bus to serve the north end of the bridge and Pierce Transit is running a special shuttle bus that serves the south end of the bridge. I suspect people will keep figuring out more ways to make things work without driving because people are creative when facing challenges like these, and they are going to get sick of the hour (each way) driving detour real fast. I'd expect to see more cargo bikes, bike trailers and kid seats on bikes in the coming weeks.

As we noted in an earlier story, the Foothills Trail now extends all the way from Enumclaw to the edge of Puyallup, passing through Buckley and Orting on the way. As frustrating as this highway bridge closure is, it is very lucky that King County and Pierce County Parks both completed major trail bridge projects in the area in the past year with the White River Bridge being the biggest. The trail bridge is even designed to carry one emergency vehicle at a time if necessary, though King County is imploring non-emergency drivers not to try driving over it. It's a great example of walking and biking infrastructure providing redundancy and resiliency in times of emergency.

Folks on both sides of the county line are making it work and getting through a tough and unexpected roadway closure. It is definitely hitting some businesses hard, so I don't want this post to come off as though this is some great thing. But in finding new ways to get across the river, many people are also finding new community connections, Nicholas Deshais reported:

It was just another typical day in the rural shadow of Mount Rainier nearly 50 miles southeast of Seattle. Except it wasn't.

It's not normal for me to walk," said Jamie Petersen, 46, who lives in Buckley, on the south side of the river, and visits her mother a few times a week in Enumclaw, to the north.

This day, she was strolling across the bridge pulling a roller bag, with a backpack and tote stacked on top of it. A small Amazon package was tucked under her arm.

I'm just thankful that there's still a way across," she said.

[...]

Many walking across - less than a mile, car to car, only a brief section over water - said they've found the good in the situation. People are getting out and meeting each other. The communities are leaning on each other, and binding closer together.

I'm curious how many of these habits end up sticking even after the highway bridge reopens. Bicycling is one of those things that once you start you get hooked, and this cross-river trail connection is still very fresh. A lot of people have been using the trail for the first time, and they may be surprised to find that it is easier and more fun than they had expected.

(Note: If you do not subscribe to the Seattle Times, local public library card holders can access the paper free through their library's excellent collection of online resources: Seattle Public Library, King County Library and Pierce County Library. The story appeared on the front page of the September 17 issue.)