Congresswoman Suzan DelBene rides the Cross Kirkland Corridor

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On Monday, May 11, Cascade had the great honor of hosting U.S. Congresswoman Suzan DelBene for a ride on the Cross Kirkland Corridor.

Serving Washington’s 1st District from Bellevue to Bellingham, DelBene recognizes the need for regional trails systems like the Eastside Rail Corridor and Cross Kirkland Corridor for both recreation and transportation.

And this 10-mile ride on the corridor was no big deal for this two-time STP finisher congresswoman.

Joined by Washington Bikes, King County Parks, City of Kirkland staff, Bellevue Mayor Claudia Balducci, The Trust for Public Land, Nuu-Muu, Sportworks and Chainline Brewing Company, we rode out and back from the South Kirkland Park and Ride to Totem Lake, stopping along the way to discuss future plans at the Google Campus and Totem Lake.

The recently opened Cross Kirkland Corridor interim trail is a 5.75 mile, off-street, packed gravel trail that runs along the former BNSF rail corridor and will become part of the non-motorized, north-south backbone of the Eastside once the entirety of the 42-mile rail corridor trail is built out from Renton to Snohomish.

Kirkland and Redmond are leading the way with their respective trail developments (Cross Kirkland Corridor and Redmond Central Connector), and we look forward to supporting King County, Sound Transit and the city of Bellevue as they continue to build out this trail.

Spirits were high during the ride as we all envisioned a future corridor where people will be able to comfortably bike to work, recreate on the weekends, safely walk and ride with their kids and appreciate the beauty that’s right in our backyard.

Support for transportation and recreation funding at the local, regional, state and national level is imperative to the development of critical non-motorized trail corridors like the Cross Kirkland Corridor, Redmond Central Connector and future sections of Eastside Rail Corridor Trail from Renton to Snohomish.

We thank DelBene for her support of multimodal transportation and for joining us during Bike Month for a ride through her district!

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