Chelan PUD Looks At Confluence Parkway, Loop Trail Improvements

Chelan PUD is looking at plans for the Confluence Parkway Project that include enhancements to the Apple Capitol Loop Trail.

The improvements include building a separate a new portion of the trail that does away with the current arrangement where it becomes the shoulder of Hawley Street next to moving car traffic.

The new portion of the loop will instead straddle green space in the Horan Natural Area.

It'll then move adjacent to Hawley Street but will be separated continually by a four-foot-high berm with vegetation.

There are two areas where the trail and the roadway run closely side-by-side, which are called "pinch points" where a there's also a retaining wall.

The trial will be 12 feet wide throughout the area, including where it runs side-by-side with the roadway.

KPG consulting Engineer Nelson Davis says a retaining wall will separate the trail and the road at that point, and the wall will grow in size where the new bridge will be built across the Wenatchee River.

That's where the retaining wall gets taller as you move toward the Wenatchee River because we're dropping the grid of the trail down nearly 20 feet to go in the lower bridge," said Davis.

The trail will cross the river underneath the bridge before it connects with its existing pathway.

The Confluence Parkway project is a planned bypass to connect Wenatchee with Highways 2 and 97 to the north.

The PUD has taken an interest in the Confluence Parkway Project because it's required by the federal government to maintain the adjacent recreational area.

The PUD's license to operate the Rock Island Dam is tied to its management of certain environmental and recreational areas and is overseen by the Federal Regulatory Energy Commission (FERC).