On February 16th, Judge Jim Rogers, of King County Superior Court, issued a decision on the Burke-Gilman Trail Missing Link case. The Burke-Gilman Trail currently terminates near 8th Avenue N.W., at the western border of Fremont. The City of Seattle has proposed continuation of the trail through the industrial zone of Ballard.
In this second appeal decision, Judge Rogers ruled again that the City of Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) failed to properly and adequately study the impacts of locating essentially a recreational trail through a maritime and industrial area, and must conduct additional environmental analysis for this project.
The decision cited the design of the trail at approximately 10%, an inadequate level of preparation to determine significant adverse impacts. Substantial further delays to construction are expected as SDOT must complete more design, conduct another study and analysis before they issue another statement of impacts.
The news of this decision came from the North Seattle Industrial Association (NSIA) which has appealed the location of the missing link. The NSIA leadership plans to use this delay to speak with City representatives about relocating the trail outside the industrial area, and building the Ballard Bikeway which would avoid further appeals and increasing costs.