March 19, 2026

Wilburton Trestle loses its tracks

Photos via King County Parks [enlarge]

The trestle is pictured in February mid-transformation.

King County Parks is making progress on the transformation of Bellevue's historic Wilburton Trestle into a new elevated trail for pedestrians and cyclists.

The trestle was built in 1904 by Northern Pacific Railway. It stretches over 1,000 feet long and more than 100 feet high above Richards Creek and Southeast Eighth Street.

The county is converting the wooden railroad structure — closed since 2007 — into a modern trail that will serve as a key link in the 42-mile Eastrail network. It will eventually connect communities from South and East King County to Snohomish County, with a spur to Redmond.

The trestle portion of Eastrail will comprise an 18-foot-wide trail with high railings and three expansive viewpoints. HNTB designed the trestle renovation, including its structural work.

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Crews are structurally reinforcing the historic wooden structure with modern bracing.

Construction on the rebuild began in May 2024. Crews are currently removing the trestle's old railroad decking. Once that's removed, large concrete panels will be installed on new cross beams to create a solid base for the trail.

Crews are also replacing significant amounts of deteriorated wood while carefully preserving the structure's historic character. The trestle structure is being reinforced with modern safety upgrades, including seismic bracing, which will improve its resilience during earthquakes.

Kraemer North America is the general contractor.

The Wilburton Trestle trail is expected to open in mid-2027. The transformation will cost $37 million.

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A crane lifts a section of stringers, ties, and rail off the trestle.

Most of that total comes from the King County Parks Levy ($20.5 million). Other funders are Amazon, the state, city of Bellevue, and Kaiser Permanente.

At its north end, the transformed trestle will link to a new interim gravel trail. The gravel trail will connect the trestle to the Northeast Eighth Street Pedestrian Bridge and Central Wilburton Sound Transit station. Parks is also spearheading this Eastrail segment, which Kraemer will build. The plan is to redevelop the gravel trail into a paved trail as part of a future project.

At the south end of the trestle, where it meets grade again, the trail will connect to the fairly new cross-Interstate 405 bike/pedestrian bridge that WSDOT built at the site of the former Wilburton rail bridge as part of its larger I-405/Renton to Bellevue Widening and Express Toll Lanes Project. That segment of Eastrail will most likely open at the same time as the trestle portion. WSDOTs I-405 widening is also expected to wrap next year.

EXPANDING EASTRAIL

Eastrail follows the route of a historic railroad line stretching from Renton to Snohomish.

Around 18 discontinuous miles of the trail have been completed to date.

Parks is also designing and will construct a 1.7-mile segment of the corridor that crosses over portions of the Interstate-90 highway in Bellevue. This project will retrofit an existing, graffiti-covered steel bridge spanning 16 lanes of traffic and pave existing paths north and south of the bridge. Parks expects to start construction on this segment in 2028 and for it to open in 2031. It will cost $49 million.

The Wilburton Trestle was originally traversed by trains hauling logged timber to regional mills and ports. It later served as a transportation corridor for airplane fuselages to Boeing's Renton facility and was last in operation as a scenic route for the Spirit of Washington dinner train.