The Sound-to-Olympics (STO) trail is a separated, shared-use (bicycle and pedestrian) pathway being built incrementally along the SR 305 corridor on Bainbridge Island and eventually connecting to a trail across Kitsap County to the Hood Canal Bridge. Starting at the ferry terminal, the newly-constructed segment of the trail extends approximately one mile north to High School Road. The first mile of the STO trail is located in the City’s Trail Connection Zone and will link important components of the City’s non-motorized network including the High School Road corridor, the Ravine Creek Non-Motorized Bridge, the Winslow Way intersection serving the Winslow Core District and Gateway District, and along Olympic Drive to the ferry terminal with service to Seattle.

The next planned segment of the trail (Phase 3) is a planned highway crossing near Vineyard Lane which will provide a direct connection from the west side of Winslow to the new trail. The City Council decided at its meeting on April 17, 2018, to no longer pursue a bridge crossing at this location and directed staff to bring back other options. 

Initial contact with WSDOT indicates a pedestrian-controlled, on-grade crossing could be installed in the Vineyard-Knechtel location. The attachment shows an example of what a crossing there might look like. There is a very similar existing highway crossing in Edmonds:

https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR104/EdmondsParkVicPedCrossing/default.htm

In order to enhance the connectivity to the first mile of trail, crossing improvements could be considered for the High School Road intersection.  The attached drawing shows some potential improvements that could be pursued with WSDOT concurrence.

At the May 15, 2018, Study Session, the City Council moved to forward to the Consent Agenda at the May 22, 2018, Council meeting authorization for City staff to pursue actions required to change the project scope of the Sound-to-Olympics Trail Phase 3 project to a protected, on-grade crossing at Vineyard Lane and improved pedestrian and bicycle accommodations at the High School Road intersection.