‘Rolling closures’ for work on Burke Gilman trail

Burke-Gilman Trail
Photo by Jerry Pickard

Annual vegetation maintenance alongside King County Parks’ Burke Gilman and Sammamish River trails will require several weeks of “rolling closures” with delays of up to 15 minutes for trail users as crews perform the work.

Beginning Tuesday, May 26 at approximately 7:30am, crews using tractor mowers will start clearing vegetation along the Burke Gilman Trail at the Seattle-Lake Forest Park boundary near Northeast 145th Street.

Working Monday through Thursday from 7:30am to 3pm, crews will continue their work until reaching King County’s Marymoor Park in Redmond. The clearing is expected to be completed by June 19.

Trail traffic will be controlled by flaggers in both directions through the active work area to ensure safety while the work is underway.

The mower will be operated in 15-minute intervals, then driven off the trail and shut down to allow traffic to pass, before resuming for another 15-minute stretch of work.

Clearing vegetation from the trails’ shoulders and ditches helps keep these popular routes safe for the public by maintaining open sightlines and improving drainage.