Developments are ongoing for a long awaited trail in Parkland, which will eventually connect Sprinker Recreation Center to Pacific Lutheran University.
The Parkland Community Trail’s first phase, which first began development in 2019, broke ground in September last year, according to Pierce County’s website. Crews finished paving that first section of the 12-foot wide asphalt trail in March. That piece stretches along Yakima Avenue, from Sprinker Recreation Center to 135th Street South. The county installed a pedestrian bridge over Clover Creek on June 3. Now crews will finish the rest of the trail, from 135th Street South to Pacific Lutheran University. Trail project manager Garett Tapia estimates crews will finish that by the end of the summer, he told The News Tribune in a video call Friday.
That final section of the trail will continue down 135th Street South and Eighth Avenue Court South, across the Parkland Prairie, and ends at PLU’s southern campus, next to Washington High School and Perry G. Keithley Middle School. According to Tapia, the entire trail will be approximately 1.8 miles. In anticipation of this construction, the Parkland Prairie closed in November and will reopen with the opening of the trail later this summer. Though the first part of the trail has been completed, the public will not be able to use it until the entire trail is paved later this summer.
According to Pierce County’s website, the project will also include the installation of improved street crossings, directional signage and landscaping. Additionally, the trail will have two crossings, one on Tule Lake Road South and another at 138th Street South, where rapid flashing rectangular beacons will be installed…