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Duwamish Trail–
Now ready for bicycling or walking

SDOT crews recently repaved the Duwamish Trail.

Looking for an easy walk or bike ride? Try the Duwamish Trail, approximately two-and-a-half miles along the west side of the Duwamish River in West Seattle. It’s a wonderfully flat trail, starting from the lower South Spokane Street Bridge, following West Marginal Way Southwest, southward to the First Avenue South Bridge.

The trail runs next to the roadway for the most part, but here in the midst of one of the city’s largest industrial areas is a strip park along the river bank with view points and shoreline access. The middle portion of the trail, where it leaves the street to pass through a wooded area, was recently repaved by SDOT’s paving crews, thanks to funding from the Bridging the Gap trainsportation initiative.

Along the trail is the 17-acre Herring’s House Park, at Southwest Alaska Street and West Marginal Way Southwest, with a natural intertidal basin and areas of marsh, meadow, and forest, making it a great spot for observing birds and small animals that live along the river.  Interpretive signs inform visitors about the local ecosystem.


View of Downtown Seattle from the Duwamish Trail.
 
Marine industry view from the Duwamish Trail.

Just to the south is the Port of Seattle’s eight-acre Terminal 107 Park, at 4700 West Marginal Way Southwest.  A sculpture is located here–the scaled-down skeleton of a North Pacific halibut schooner–part of a series of installations comprising the West Seattle Cultural Trail. Information is posted here about the people who lived at this site over the past centuries, including a Duwamish Indian village and a commercial fishing community.

Walkers and bikers looking for extended excursions can explore the Alki Trail to the northwest of the Duwamish Trail. To the northeast, the path across the lower Spokane Street Bridge leads to Alaskan Way South, and then to the path along the Downtown Seattle Waterfront. To the south, from the Duwamish Trail follow on-street and off-street routes that connect with the Green River and Interurban trails located south of the Seattle city limits.


The T-107 Park is along the
Duwamish Trail.

Sculpture of the skeleton of a
fishing schooner.