Watch: Biking through the new Myrtle Edwards and Centennial Parks
The pair of newly renovated waterfront parks north of downtown are spectacular.
Funded by Melinda French Gates and MacKenzie Scott, the Diller-Von Furstenberg Family Foundation and Expedia through the Downtown Seattle Association-powered Elliott Bay Connection organization, the remake of Myrtle Edwards and Centennial Parks turned a lovely waterfront park into one of the best in the city. With new beaches, new paths, new kid play areas and a new cafe and covered picnic building, the new parks are destinations as much as they are places to bike through.
I was biking through the day after it opened in early June to take some video and happened upon a press event featuring the lead landscape architect Lara Rose from Walker Macy and architect on the haali building Alfred Waugh from Formline Architecture + Urbanism among others who worked on the project. In addition to touting the features of the renovated park, speakers at the press event praised the accelerated process that got the project from proposal to finished project in just a couple years. Our first story about the proposed project was published August 2023 when they had little more than a few watercolor sketches. The finished park opened less than three years later. The whole project required 60 permits, and the team received them all and finished construction in one year, a pace that is unheard of in Seattle even for less ambitious projects. During a press briefing, Port of Seattle Commissioner Sam Cho praised the speed of the project, nothing that the speed also reduces the cost because time costs money. How can we replicate the model where we get it done quicker?" he asked rhetorically.
The pace was so fast that the team was still designing parts of the project while construction was underway. Engineering structures and even the lighting was made significantly more difficult by the fact that much of the land is unstable fill from I-5 excavation 70 years ago, so concrete footings had to be very deep in the ground. One person joked that if you are in the park when the big one hits, you should grab onto a light pole.
To visitors, the whole project area feels like one long park, though technically Myrtle Edwards Park is owned by Seattle Parks and Centennial Park is owned by the Port of Seattle. The bike trail maintains its Elliott Bay Trail name through both parks as well as through the Interbay rail yard. To users on the ground, it all feels connected. The parks have separate walking and biking paths for the full length, and there are new bike parking areas in multiple places along the way that include bike repair stands with pumps.
The connection to the W Thomas Street Overpass has been slightly redesigned with a wider sweep and a more gradual connection to the walking path. The view from the walk/bike bridge's viewpoint is even more spectacular now that it overlooks a beach and play area.
Heading north, the main sign that you've crossed into the Port of Seattle's Centennial Park is that you are greeted by the Port's ridiculous (and frankly embarrassing) 5 mph speed limit sign. I am surprised they are still installing these. Zero people have ever obeyed this sign because it is nonsense. A child learning to ride a bike in Centennial Park would be breaking this rule the moment their parent let go of the saddle. City of Seattle trails do not typically have specific speed limits (people must bike in a careful and prudent manner and at a rate of speed no greater than is reasonable and proper under the conditions) while King County trails typically have a 15 mph speed limit.
The highlight of the Centennial Park section is the haali building with its circle of sitting stones, covered picnic area, public restrooms and Cafe Hagen. The cafe is open every day from 8 to 7. No beer and wine yet, though that may be coming.
According to the Port of Seattle webpage, the name of the building is Lushootseed for The Good Place" and is pronounced like HAHT-sah-lee." Practice how to say it because it is sure to be a major bike ride meetup, break, or stopping point from now on (and also because learning to pronounce words in Lushootseed is really fun. I've been practicing my " for a couple weeks now and still have a way to go.):
The pace of the project did leave one element behind: The fishing pier. Owned by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the structurally unsound pier is slated for replacement. However, the legislature has not funded construction of the new pier due to state budget challenges," according to the project webpage and a sign placed on site. The hope was to finish design in 2026 and build it in 2027, though funding will be needed to make that happen. For now, it sits disconnected from the shoreline by a dozen feet or so. Hopefully nobody gets hurt trying to climb on it because it is tantalizingly close.
The opening of these parks got a bit lost in all the World Cup excitement, so make an excuse to bike over there if you haven't visited yet this summer.