The Burke-Gilman Trail's Ballard section along Shilshole Avenue, known locally as the missing link, has been in litigation since the 1990s over how to route cyclists past an industrial waterfront shared with trucks and trains. A 2024 transportation levy set aside money for a new route through NW Market Street; the original alignment remains paused.
Right now, a section of the Burke-Gilman near Laurelhurst is under repair.
Temporary Work on the Burke-Gilman Trail
Seattle Parks began construction on the Burke-Gilman between NE 65th Street and NE 77th Street, near Sand Point, on September 8, 2026. The work is expected to run about three weeks depending on weather, which puts the tail end somewhere around the start of October. The trail stays open the whole time. Crews are installing temporary gravel ramps around the work zones instead of closing the corridor, so the standard instruction applies: dismount and walk your bike through the marked sections, watch for detour signage, and expect the kind of minor delay that comes from routine maintenance rather than a stalled legal fight.
The Sand Point work is underway; the proposed Ballard route remains paused.
If you walk or ride this section weekly, plan for gravel ramps and slower going through late September. If you're not in a hurry, this is also a good excuse to skip that stretch entirely and take the detour that's been sitting in plain sight the whole time.
The Swamp Isn't as Old as It Looks
Cut through the Center for Urban Horticulture at 3501 NE 41st Street and you'll find the entry to Yesler Swamp, a boardwalk loop that feels like it's been there since before the neighborhood was platted. It hasn't. Before 1916, this ground sat mostly underwater, part of Union Bay. That year, the Lake Washington Ship Canal lowered the lake by nine feet and exposed new land. Henry Yesler ran a sawmill on the site through the late 1800s. After it burned for the second time, the University of Washington bought the property in the 1920s and then, by most accounts, forgot about it. For decades it sat as what one UW researcher called scrubby, undesirable land, choked with Himalayan blackberry and English ivy.
The swamp you walk through today is the product of restoration work that started around 2010, led by a volunteer group called Friends of Yesler Swamp working alongside UW Botanic Gardens. They raised more than $400,000, much of it from neighbors, to build a 1,500-foot cedar boardwalk designed to keep foot traffic off sensitive wetland while still giving people a way in. The boardwalk was completed in October 2016, ten years ago this fall, and the swamp now supports more than 100 bird species along with beaver and river otter. Turtles bask on the rocks near the water on warm mornings.
None of that is ancient. It's the result of a specific decade of specific people deciding a piece of forgotten UW land was worth the work. The boardwalk is handicap accessible, leashed dogs are welcome, and bikers and runners are asked to walk their bikes across it since the footing is built for a slower pace than the main trail. Free parking is available at the Center for Urban Horticulture lot, with the trailhead at the east corner.
A Brewery Near the Trail with Nearby Food Options
Follow the trail south and east from the swamp and you'll come out where NE 45th Street bends into Sand Point Way, at Burke-Gilman Brewing Company, 3626 NE 45th Street. It opened in July 2018, started by four longtime friends, two of them home brewers, in a space that used to be an Italian restaurant. The brewery has never had a kitchen, and customers can bring their own food. Varlamos Pizzeria is directly across the street, and the El Camion taco truck parks next door.
One of the brewery's owners has said publicly that Ravenna Brewing, a few blocks away, mentored them through the process of opening. The breweries are a short walk apart along the same trail.
The taproom is dog and kid friendly, with a mix of indoor seating and a patio that fills up on trail-riding weekends. If you're coming from the Sand Point construction zone or the swamp boardwalk, it sits close enough to either to make a natural stopping point.
Putting the Loop Together This Fall
If you're walking or riding the Burke-Gilman through Laurelhurst over the next few weeks, here's what actually changes and what doesn't:
- Between NE 65th and NE 77th, near Sand Point, expect temporary gravel ramps through early October. The trail stays open, but budget a few extra minutes and dismount where signs say to.
- The Yesler Swamp boardwalk, accessed from the Center for Urban Horticulture at 3501 NE 41st Street, is unaffected and worth the ten-minute detour if you've never taken it. Go slow on the boardwalk itself and leave bikes at the entrance.
- Burke-Gilman Brewing at 3626 NE 45th Street is open daily except Tuesday, with outdoor seating that works well paired with a pizza from Varlamos or tacos from El Camion next door.
For a September walk, it helps to know where the temporary work is, that the older restoration is worth a look even though it's not new, and which corner has both good beer and good food, just not from the same building.
If you're curious about what else is changing in Laurelhurst this season, or you'd like a longer conversation about the neighborhood beyond the trail, Dorothee Graham is always glad to talk. Let's Connect.
