Category Overview
Trails grants help communities and recreation areas fund the creation and improvement of trails for walking, hiking, cycling, horseback riding, and cross-country skiing. These grants help make communities more livable, create regional trails systems, and open up beautiful outdoor spaces for people to enjoy. WWRP is the largest source of trail support in the state of Washington.
Project Highlights
The project is located on parcels in both Thurston County and Pierce County that are owned by the City of Yelm. It provides expanded multimodal mobility options in Yelm (via connections to WSDOT’s SR 510 Alternate project and other community access points).It is the only identified regional trail link between Thurston and Pierce County’s trail networks, will help provide access to Joint base Lewis McChord, reduce existing conflicts along State Route 507 (documented in WSDOT crash data). It is also part of a Cross State Trail route concept to connect the Willapa Hills Trail and Palouse to Cascades Trail.This project is in the historic Prairie Line Railroad corridor, the same one that the Yelm Tenino Trail is in. Completed portions of this corridor connect the communities of Yelm, Rainier and Tenino supplying recreational and transportation options to residents and visitors of Thurston County. Phase 1 of the Yelm Prairie Line Trail is completed and runs from Yelm Avenue West along the corridor serving school routes and residential development and also provides a trailhead with parking. A funded but not yet completed phase (Phase 2) will extend the existing Phase 1 trail to the Nisqually River. This project (Phase 2B) will extend the trail across the Nisqually River bridge and into Pierce County for later phases of development. It also provides potential opportunities for public water access and environmental education by linking to Nisqually Land Trust properties.