Mountains to Sound Greenway Trail
A Missing Link Becoming Its Own Destination
The Mountains to Sound Greenway is a 100 mile long trail network that stretches from Seattle to Ellensburg. In the City of Bellevue, there is a three and a half mile missing link, known as the Eastgate Gap, which stretches from Factoria Boulevard to Lakemont Boulevard, along the I-90 corridor in the Eastgate area.
The Eastgate Gap connects cyclists, pedestrians and transit users to the neighborhoood of Factoria. KPG presented trail concepts at community open houses and agency meetings. We coordinated with various stakeholders, and ultimately received consensus from WSDOT, the adjacent business community, numerous city departments, and the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust before moving forward with the design plans. KPG then teamed up with the City of Bellevue Transportation Department to provide the necessary landscape architecture, architecture, urban design and illumination services for segments one and two between Factoria Boulevard to 148th.
A key element of the trail vision is to creatively shield the trail from the adjacent I-90 freeway. KPG accomplished this by including a wide variety of landscape plantings, a large rest area with a canopy structure and numerous smaller connecting transit/pedestrian nodes.
Placemaking elements and amenities included both Mountains to Sound Greenway and City identity features, custom soldier pile wall treatments, trail lighting, decorative pavement, interpretive signage, benches, kiosks, wayfinding signage and public art.
