One of the delights of locals (and visitors who know about it) is this Waterfront Park. Us locals often prefer to go through it to and from the ferry to view the harbor, check up on the wildlife, and cultural events. Or, we make a point of going there for a variety of activities.
There is an active Waterfront Trails Committee which has been cultivating development of the Waterfront Trail over several years. The City of Bainbridge Island’s Non-Motorized Transportation Advisory Committee chose to have an enlargement of Winslow in it’s soon to be released map, A Guide to Walking, Cycling, and Paddling. This was done in part to feature the Waterfront Trail, which extends all the way to Finch, by St. Barnabus Episcopal Church, just up the hill from Head of the Bay.
Both groups, and many others desire a direct, intuitive connection with the ferry terminal which would not require crossing State Route 305 to connect by foot and bike to the ferry. A priority for redevelopment of the ferry facilities would be to create a route which does not have the current dog leg of going up to Harbor Drive, laterally and down to reach the path which goes along the ferry maintenance yard. Even though there is actually good signage, the wayfinding is not intuitive and most visitors do not seem to catch on to the opportunity.
Plus, the route would work much better for people with vision and movement limitations if it were more direct into the heart of downtown, generally felt to be the area of Town and Country Market. Now is the critical time to let the City of Bainbridge Island and Washington State Ferries know of support for improving these connections and integrate them well into designs for the Ferry Terminal District.
Below is a slideshow of what one sees along the way to the Waterfront Park.
Waterfront Trail to
Winslow Waterfront Park
