For anyone who has ever walked between town and Center along the highway and wished for a more pedestrian-friendly alternative, welcome news is on the way. The Vashon-Maury Island Land Trust and King County’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) are currently working on a project referred to as Phase 1 in a long-term plan to connect the island’s retail hubs.

“The goal is to provide a way for people to get back and forth without being on the highway, which is at best uncomfortable and at worst, dangerous,” land trust Executive Director Tom Dean said.

For an island that’s known for its abundance of outdoor recreational opportunities, Vashon can be a strangely difficult place for those who choose or need to walk. For all of its natural spaces, the only way to travel up or down the island is via the main highways.

Dean and David Kimmett, manager of King County’s Natural Resources Lands program, are looking to change that by building an interconnected trail system. The long-term plan is to connect trails from town all the way to Quartermaster Harbor, though Kimmett’s dream doesn’t stop there.

“From top to bottom,” he said. “One day, we want Vashon to have a trail system that can take you from one end of the island to the other without having to use the highway.”

For the moment, however, the focus is on the more immediate future and two loop trails: Judd Creek and Town.

The Judd Creek trail, currently closed to the public, is in the midst of its most intense construction phase, Dean said. Crews from the Student Conservation Association as well as the Washington Conservation Corps are working hard to establish the trail, as well as build bridges and boardwalks through Paradise Valley.

“This is going to be a great teaching and birding trail,” he noted. “It’s fairly flat and will be good for families with young children.”

The trail, which is anticipated to open near the end of September, has a ready-made trail head at the Burton Adventure Recreation Center and will eventually be the final piece of the town-to-Quartermaster trail system.

The first link in the chain, the aptly named Town Loop Trail, will get its formal start as soon as the land trust and county secure the funds to build a useable path out of a closed section of unpaved road known as the 103rd right-of-way. Located at the Island Center Forest trailhead near the Roseballen neighborhood, the roughly 600 foot-long section of 103rd Avenue has been plagued with problems.

“For starters, it’s impassable in the winter,” Dean said. “The water collects there to the point where it’s too deep for anyone to get through.”

The poor drainage and subsequent proliferation of mud has also made the spot attractive for mud bogging, which leaves deep, uneven ruts in the drier months, making it  impossible for cyclists and dangerous for pedestrians or equestrians to navigate.

In the past, it has also been a haven for transients. But Kimmett described how they worked with the land owners on each side of the 103rd segment to clear away vegetation overgrowth, which removed much of the desired cover, and the camps moved out.

According to county regulations, the King County Roads division cannot legally fix the beleaguered stretch, despite the fact that it owns it, since the segment is officially designated as closed. But cooperation wins the day, as Roads is giving King County Parks — which manages Island Center Forest — a “special use” easement so that the work to build a useable, connecting path can be done.

“It’s going to be re-graded and built up, making a raised path so that water won’t collect anymore,” Kimmett said. “It will have a soft surface … gravel, and will be wide enough for a couple of bikes or horses, or two or three people to walk abreast of each other.”

And there will be barriers at either end, passable by everything but vehicles.

Islander Steven Holtz, a member of the Friends of Island Center Forest and devoted equestrian, explained that the 103rd right-of-way was chosen to be the gateway for the Town Loop Trail because the “Gateway Trail” into Island Center Forest also starts there. He described the nearly 2-feet deep ruts that currently run the length of the section, making it impossible to use safely, as well as his personal desire for him and his wife to one day be able to ride their horses from town to the Roasterie for coffee.

“I hope that once this section is completed it will serve as an example of the vision,” he said, “and that it will encourage the development of the rest of the trail to Center.”

Once the 103rd segment is finished, the next steps will be to start formalizing the town-to-Center route, as it evolves section by section.

“You can actually walk it now, when it’s dry,” Dean explained. “We have been working with the owners of the properties all along the way, like Matsuda Farm and the Open Space, and they’ve all been very supportive.”

The hope, however, is to create something more permanent and on paper so that it can be protected when properties change hands.

Of particular concern for all involved is safety, and specifically the lack of it with the only current option of walking along the highway. Holtz said that if they can get the trail to Center, then it’s possible that through a national program called Safe Routes to School, the schools could be connected to it to provide more children a safe way to walk or ride their bikes to and from school.

Kimmett said that his vision for the island is to bring it more in line with the rest of King County, which has an extensive Regional Trail System, though he acknowledged that Vashon has one big disadvantage compared to other areas.

“Most regional trails are ‘rail trails’ that have used defunct railways as their paths,” he noted. “On Vashon, we obviously don’t have that luxury. So we have to create the connection ourselves.”

For now, the focus is on the Judd Creek and Town Loop trails, and Dean said that ideally, the 103rd right-of-way will be completed around the same time as Judd Creek, if progress continues to go well.

And at the end of the day, for all involved, it’s not just about connecting the dots — it’s about giving people more opportunities, whether it’s for watching wildlife, staying healthy or simply getting from one place to another.

“Trails get used if they’re cool or they go somewhere,” Dean said. “We’re hoping for both with this plan.”

— To see progress on the Judd Creek trail and future progress on the 103rd right-of-way, follow the land trust on Facebook at facebook.com/vashon.landtrust.