Centralia city staff are preparing to begin planning work on the Hub City Greenways initiative, according to Interim Centralia City Manager Amy Buckler, who gave the Centralia City Council an update during the council’s Sept. 10 meeting.
The council officially incorporated Hub City Greenways as a part of Centralia’s parks plan last spring. It seeks to create an extensive urban and nature trail network throughout Centralia, connecting parks, key destinations and neighborhood hubs centered around the city’s schools.
Along with the city, Buckler said partners in the Hub City Greenways initiative include the Centralia School District, the Office of Chehalis Basin, Lewis County Transit, the Centralia Downtown Association, Providence Centralia Hospital, Valley View Health Center, Lewis County Community Trails and Blue Zones Activate Lewis County.
Buckler told the council three things are in the works right now to get things rolling, the first being creating conceptual designs for the urban trails in order to embed it into the city’s transportation master plan.
“That’s some work that’s happening in the background. That is going to set an essential foundation so that we can go after big grants to actually construct the trails,” Buckler said.
She informed the council Centralia is one of 52 communities nationwide awarded a U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Thriving Communities Program grant.
“This grant does not give us direct funding, but it will provide needed technical assistance that’s gonna help us do things like engage the public, identify and write lucrative grants (applications), create plans and a host of other things that will help us advance Hub City Greenways,” Buckler said.
Currently, city staff are working on preparing a scope of work document that will soon be submitted to USDOT after approval by the council.
Finally, after a meeting with the Hub City Greenways initiative partners and the Centralia Housing Committee, it was suggested to begin planning for two projects to start the initiative — the first being an urban trail down West Main Street with access to Centralia College Boulevard stretching from Yew Street to South Pearl Street.
“The other project is just up the street from there, and that is the envisioned nature trail we refer to as the Hayes Lake Trail,” Buckler said.
This trail will connect Fort Borst Park with the Rotary Riverside Park. Both of these projects are considered the Hub City Greenway trail system’s spine.
They will be incorporated into the scope of work being prepared for USDOT as to what the city hopes to accomplish first for this project.
Additionally, Buckler stated that Blue Zones Activate Lewis County had some leftover grant money that needs to be utilized before 2024 ends.
Shawna Herriford, executive director for Blue Zones Activate Lewis County, met with Buckler and, using recommendations from both Centralia’s parks plan and housing committee, decided to use that grant money to develop guidelines for trail signs.
“Some of the goals we talked about for the signage would include safety, timeless design, high quality materials that are easy to maintain and simple but informative,” Buckler said.
These signs will not only be utilized on the new trails constructed for Hub City Greenways but will also replace old signs on existing trails.
