A gravel path weaves its way through the trees and around the historic Borst Home in Centralia.
A leaf lays on the gravel path in Fort Borst Park on Saturday afternoon in Centralia.
City officials, donors and volunteers are teaming up for a project that could open up a popular trail to more people.
Construction could begin soon on a new paved trail throughout the Fort Borst Park area, if Centralia city leaders give their blessing to the project.
Centralia’s City Council will consider approving a proposal to pave a 1-mile loop in Fort Borst Park during its meeting tonight, giving trail walkers and runners an alternative to gravel trails currently in the park and enhancing accessibility for people with disabilities.
Mark Dulin, owner of Dulin Construction and member of the Lewis County Community Trails nonprofit organization, says all that needs to happen for work to begin is for city council members to vote to approve the proposal.
“The interest here is to have something in town and out of traffic,” Dulin said. “We’re also hoping to offset some use on the high school track when people want a smooth predictable route.”
Two-thirds of the project would be built on existing gravel trails, much of which would run through the new baseball and softball portion of the Northwest Sports Hub complex and the area of the Borst Home.
“It will use a nice stretch of river along the Borst Home and tie in to the back of the park,” Dulin explained.
Dulin said TransAlta provided monetary support for the project, and that his own construction company and Lakeside Industries, which will pave the trail, would provide the labor for “somewhere between free and really cheap.”
In the official packet provided to Centralia’s city councilors, city of Centralia Community Development Director Emil Pierson said there was “no expected cost to the city except labor to assist in the trail grubbing.”
The new Fort Borst Park trail would fit in with the Lewis County Community Trails master plan of building a pedestrian and cyclist corridor between Fort Borst Park in Centralia and Stan Hedwall Park in Chehalis, known collectively as the TransAlta Trail.
Pieces of that framework are coming together, with the majority of a dedicated pedestrian and bike lane between the rerouted Airport Road and the Mellen Street interchange completed. That portion will connect Mellen Street and the Airport Trail Levee, while also connecting to bike lanes that serve the retail complex in and around Chamber Way and Louisiana Avenue.
The eventual big piece in the puzzle entails connecting the trail in Borst to the portion along Mellen Street when it is complete. The trails group envisions using a barrier-protected pedestrian and bicycle lane that would run alongside the Mellen Street collector/distributor lanes paralleling Interstate 5 over the Skookumchuck River.
However, building the approaches to that bicycle and pedestrian trail would require a significant amount of money and would primarily be a project planned and funded on a local scale, Dulin said.
“That’s a larger project, and it’s quite a few bucks,” Dulin said.
Dulin said he is ecstatic to see the trail system expand and serve a population that has expressed a need for a year-round, non-weather-dependent trail system. He expects the Borst Trail loop to open to the public by the end of September.
“It should be a really nice trail,” Dulin said.
