Touring the New West Lake Sammamish Pathway

For nearly a year, Minnie, Lane and I have endured the headaches of the West Lake Sammamish Parkway expansion--don't even get us started on the backups at the roundabout as we headed to school every morning.

But as work progressed this summer, my pain has turned to delight in what a great walk it looks to be. The work is not quite done yet (the schedule calls for a mid-October finish), and the road still closed in the southbound direction from just north of Interstate 90 to just north of Bellevue's Vasa Park, but cyclists, joggers and walkers are already enjoying the newly paved separated path.

Minnie and I toured the route from Sunset Elementary to Vasa Park and back on a recent early Sunday morning, and it's very pleasant. We headed out quite early, around 6:30 a.m., and saw only one person walking, a lone fisherman through one of the many peek-a-boo views of Lake Sammamish, and a cute pair of rabbits.

With a bit of summer left and construction halted on weekends, we recommend parking at Vasa Park, walking the length of the path and back, and hanging out for some beach fun at Vasa at the end of your about 2-mile walk.

Once the section is cleared of construction equipment, it will be really beautiful, but beware, it's just the first of five planned sections, so those traffic headaches will be continuing for a while.