The City of Auburn officially opened a quarter-mile extension of the White River Trail on Tuesday with a ceremony near Ilako Middle School off A Street Southeast.
The quarter-mile extension completes the nearly five-mile loop of the White River Trail, which runs along the river beginning at A Street, flows behind Auburn Riverside High School and through Roegner Park before ending at the Game Farm Wilderness campsite.
On hand to cut the ribbon were Mayor Pete Lewis, Deputy Mayor Sue Singer, City Councilmembers Virginia Haugen, Nancy Backus and Rich Wagner, as well as several members of the City’s parks and public works departments. Also on hand was Eagle Scout candidate Bryce Prenovost, who aided the project by organizing the planting of more than 300 plants and trees.
“This is a great project,” Lewis said. “A quarter-mile may not seem like much, but it’s a great addition to our city because it’s a completion of another leg of a trail system. We’re starting to see in our city people who come together to put together trail systems that connect communities.”
The extension also will allow walkers and riders to move from Roegner Park to the sidewalk on A Street, where they can then connect to the Interurban Trail via Ellingson Road, the C Street trail and 15th Street Southwest.
“The goal was always to get to here so the public could get to the bridge,” said Daryl Faber, director of Auburn Parks, Arts and Recreation.
Faber said the $150,000 project was funded by a King County trails levy.
Lewis pointed out that the trail will benefit high school students who used an unpaved path to get to Auburn Riverside before the extension was built. He thanked the Danner Company for allowing an easement on its property for the extension.
Faber said that the White River Trail could be extended even farther in the future.
“There is a plan to continue farther up the river, through tribal land and making a six-mile loop around the Lakeland Hills development,” he said. “So in the future this could be part of a much larger loop.”
