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City hears $3.5 million proposal to complete Knesset River Road multiuse trail; DOT permitting complicates crosswalk work
Summary
Engineers and partners presented a phased plan for the Knesset River Road multiuse trail, estimating a $3.5 million total cost and requesting roughly $475,000 for a next phase; committee members raised safety, lighting and crosswalk concerns and were told crosswalk striping and some work fall under state DOT jurisdiction and permitting.
A presenter identified as Mark, a civil engineer, described the Knesset River Road multiuse trail, which the project team said serves an area where roughly 55,000 people live within a 10-minute walk. He outlined three phases: initial construction, the connector (subject of the current request), and later extensions. The team identified a funding deficit and asked the committee to consider a phase request reported in the discussion as about $475,000 toward completing the connector; the full project cost was described as about $3,500,000.
Council members focused on safety and the relationship between the proposed path and adjacent traffic. One member asked whether the trail would narrow the roadway; project staff said travel lanes would remain and that the path would be set back from the street. Members also pressed on crosswalks and striping; staff said they have been coordinating with DPW and parks but that the crosswalk striping and certain traffic controls implicate state DOT jurisdiction and permitting. The project team said that if full funding is not available they would prioritize highest-impact segments and bid work to a single contractor to retain cost efficiencies.
Members urged collaboration with city departments to reduce costs where possible (for example, DPW taking on striping if jurisdiction allows) and suggested council discretionary funds or letters to DOT could help; presenters cautioned that some actions depend on DOT approvals and permitting decisions. The committee did not record a final funding vote in the provided transcript.
