Prairie Line Trail: UWT Station Plans

Chalk one up for Tacoma history and bike advocates who challenged the UWT’s plans for the Hood Corridor Prairie Line Trail, and give Peter Callaghan some credit too, for bringing the issue to our attention back in early February.

Callaghan is back on the case in today’s TNT, with a rundown of the smaller victory of getting designs reconsidered. The project calendar has been pushed out by a few months, after concerns were raised over the initial design proposals on two counts. First, the bikeability of that portion of what is intended to be… a bike corridor. Second, the (lack of) historic elements of the Prairie Line Trail, named for… the historic Prairie Line that originally defined the slope of the path into downtown.

The original project calendar had the final design scheduled for presentation March 14, but that date has now been pushed out to June 3. With any luck, and a little continued pressure from concerned parties, the final design will include a more bike-friendly route, and more elements honoring the history of the space… like, maybe, a greater presence for the rails, which are still there.

While he was at it, Callaghan’s article considers other relevant questions of downtown open spaces – the current Pugnetti Park situation, and the not-too-distant-future question of the fate of the next section of the Prairie Line, where it runs behind the building that houses the United Way and the new Children’s Museum. Callaghan suggests that the space would be better used as an open park space, rather than developed as a parking lot for the United Way offices. “Prairie Line Park sounds nicer than United Way Parking Lot,” he sums up.

We seem to remember the original plans for the Prairie Line trail involving a continuous, walkable, bikeable path connecting the Waterfront to other bike trails in the area, and acknowledging the importance of the railways in Tacoma’s history… Were we wrong about that? If that is the plan, why is this so hard?

Read more from The News Tribune.

Previously from Exit133: Questions Re UWT Hood Corridor Plans. Or should we say, “Questions Re Prairie Line Trail, UWT Station Plans?”