Trails blueprint approved

Plan endorsed by Moses Lake

MOSES LAKE — Walkers and bikers in the area now have a map to the future of their walkable community.

A few projects have already begun, but the Moses Lake City Council officially endorsed the Moses Lake Activity Trail Master Plan as part of their comprehensive plan at their meeting Tuesday. At more than 200 pages, the plan is one supporters are calling the culmination of the work of the Moses Lake Trails Planning Team since 2001.

"This master plan is a guide, a blueprint, a working document for a bicycle/pedestrian system and how it can be used in future development," TPT Co-Chair Deb Miller told council members Tuesday.

That blueprint will connect neighborhoods and downtown schools and parks to other points of interest in Moses Lake from Big Bend Community College to McCosh Park, and everything in between.

The 200-page book was put together by Curt Carpenter, a TPT member and engineer technician with the City of Moses Lake. The plan represents one step of a process of integrating existing and planned trails to create a community-wide trails system.

Phase one includes eight sections of trails, including the Dogwood court project currently under way. That project aims to provide a safe crossing across Broadway Avenue from Neppel Landing to McCosh Park with a pedestrian traffic signal at Dogwood Street.

Another part of the plan is the results of a design conference TPT members held in 2003, and since that conference Miller said three projects have stood out. A pedestrian overpass over Alder Street at Neppel Landing, and a kayak park where the railroad bridge from Montlake Park meets the west shore of Pelican Horn where two of the projects; the other was the Heron Trail, scheduled to be completed in 2007 which would connect McCosh Park to the Japanese Peace Garden via a series of connecting trails and a boardwalk.

During a presentation to the Moses Lake City Council, TPT member Bob Russell said that when the group prioritized their needs, all they needed to do was connect the dots.

"We've got a great start on a trails system here in Moses Lake," Russell said and called the document the future of the plan.

TPT Co-Chair Joe Rogers said that with approval, the activity trail plan should now color future development within the city. The system of trails would provide transportation and recreation for Moses Lake residents, but also had another positive for TPT members.

"The reason for this is not just recreation and making it a pretty place," Rogers said, "but it has to do with health."

The TPT is one prong of a three-pronged Healthy Communities Project headed by the City of Moses Lake. The Healthy Communities Project also includes the Community Gardens and the Breastfeeding Coalition.

Brenda Teals is a member of the TPT and the Moses Lake Tourism Commission, and likened the trail plan to the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes in north Idaho and said she hopes people will look to Moses Lake's trails when their work is done.

Councilman Dick Deane formerly was a member of the city's parks and recreation commission and told TPT members at Tuesday's council meeting that he respected and admired the work they had done.

"Your forward thinking and just pushing the barriers back has made this possible," Deane said.