South Gorge Trail project set to break ground in 2019

A long-discussed trail is taking another step toward completion after Spokane received nearly $1 million in state grant money.

The South Gorge Trail project will break ground in 2019, said Brandon Blankenagel, a senior engineer for the Spokane Public Works Department.

The paved trail will be about a mile long. It will start at the west end of Water Avenue parallel Clarke Avenue and end at People’s Park.

That trail work is being funded with two state Recreation and Conservation Office grants worth about $1.1 million. The total project will cost more than $2 million. Eventually, the trail will connect with the planned 3.5-mile Gorge Loop trail.

Blankenagel said the design will likely be finalized this winter with construction starting in the spring or summer. The trail is not officially named and has been called the Peaceful Valley Trail and the South Gorge Loop Trail.

Crews are currently working on a 50,000-gallon stormwater tank in Peaceful Valley. As part of that work, some of the South Loop Trail will be started. The majority of the work, however, won’t start until 2019.

The money will also fund some trailhead improvement work at People’s Park and Redband Park, formerly Glover Field.

At the same time, the city is moving forward with plans to build a boat launch at Redband Park, complete with expanded parking.

The boat launch and trail combined will make Peaceful Valley a key recreation area, said Andy Dunau, the Spokane River Forum executive director.

“(The boat launch) works really nicely with the trail system going in there now,” he said.

Once the South Loop Trail is complete, users will be able to start at the Redband Park Boat launch trailhead, travel downstream on the trail and then cross the river at the Sandifur Bridge, climb the bank and hook up with the Centennial Trail on the return leg.

The city has talked about a trail on the south bank for at least 30 years. Grand plans for the gorge stretch back even further. A Spokane park plan drafted in 1908 called for the Great Gorge Park. The park would have stretched from the falls to the old Natatorium Park, 4 miles downstream.