A tunneling machine is running around the clock under the Red Cedar Trailhead on Coal Creek Parkway SE. King County's project video says it is digging a new sewer line 120 feet underground. For decades the gravel lot above it was where most people started the Coal Creek Trail. Now it is a fenced work zone, and the City of Bellevue says the trailhead will stay closed through 2031.
The trail is still open. The entrances that work now are mostly the ones on the Newcastle side and the old coal-town side: Newcastle Commons, the YMCA, Newcastle Golf Club Road and Lakemont Boulevard. For the next few years, getting onto Coal Creek starts near the mine sites the creek was named for, and that is also where Newcastle's own trail work and fall calendar are focused.
What's Happening Under the Old Front Door
The Coal Creek Sewer Upgrade replaces a regional sewer line serving Bellevue and Newcastle. The existing line was built between 1966 and 1991 and is at maximum capacity. The project adds about 2 miles of new pipe and moves the active line away from Coal Creek's sensitive areas. About one mile of that pipe is going in by tunneling.
Different agencies give different dates, and each one covers a different part of the work:
| Milestone | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Tunneling begins at Red Cedar | As early as July 20, 2026 | King County bulletin, July 16, 2026 |
| Tunneling confirmed still underway | October 2026 | King County bulletin, Oct. 2, 2026 |
| Tunneling expected to finish | Early 2027 | King County bulletin, July 16, 2026 |
| Overall construction complete | 2030 | King County project page |
| Red Cedar Trailhead closed through | 2031 | City of Bellevue |
The early-2027 date comes from the county's July 16 bulletin, and it covers the tunneling only. The county's October 2 update confirms the machine is still running but doesn't repeat that estimate. Even once tunneling ends, the trailhead stays closed through 2031 on Bellevue's schedule.
If you drive the Parkway, the tunneling also changes traffic. A northbound lane near Red Cedar is closed from 10:30 a.m. to 5 a.m., seven days a week. It reopens from 5 to 10:30 a.m. to ease the morning commute.
The Side Doors, and What Each One Gets You
King County tells trail users to come in through the Forest Drive, Red Town, Cinder Mine and other trailheads, follow the signed detours, and stay out of fenced construction areas. In its September 26 newsletter, the volunteer group Newcastle Trails adds two entrances closer to home: Newcastle Commons by way of the Thomas Rouse Trail, and the YMCA.
| Entrance | Where | Parking noted by King County |
|---|---|---|
| Thomas Rouse Trail | From Newcastle Commons | Not listed |
| Coal Creek Family YMCA | Coal Creek Parkway corridor | Yes |
| Cinder Mine Trailhead | Newcastle Golf Club Road | Yes |
| Red Town Trailhead | Lakemont Boulevard, Cougar Mountain | Yes |
| Forest Drive Trailhead | Bellevue side | Not listed |
Newcastle Trails says the Coal Creek Trail stays usable east of the Parkway during construction. So the entrances that matter most now are the Thomas Rouse Trail, the YMCA and Cinder Mine, all reached from Newcastle streets. For anyone already living south of the creek, they were often the shorter drive anyway.
Starting From the Coal End
The upper end of the trail is where the creek's history is easiest to see. Bellevue's own description of Coal Creek Natural Area asks visitors to look for evidence of the early coal industry along the trail. HistoryLink describes Red Town as a historic Coal Creek neighborhood. It places the former Coal Creek settlement near what is now the intersection of Newcastle Golf Club Road and Lakemont Boulevard, which is where two of the open trailheads sit today.
From Red Town, King County's Cougar Mountain park map marks the mining sites by name:
- Ford Slope, a labeled mining site
- A turntable site, where coal cars were turned
- A cave and a mine shaft, both marked on the map
- Coal Creek Falls Trail, starting from the same trail network
Newcastle Trails recommends a loop: take the Coal Creek Trail to Red Town, then come back on a different trail. The group's map at newcastletrails.org shows the route.
A new connection is also coming. Newcastle Trails reports that a new trail and bridge will join the Coal Creek Trail between the Cinder Mine Trail and the historic Milt Swanson parcel. Bellevue is developing that parcel after the "Save Coal Creek" effort. Lakemont Boulevard separates the Swanson parcel from the Red Town Trailhead in Cougar Mountain Park. As of the group's September 26 newsletter, the bridge was "opening soon," and no opening announcement has been found since. Check its status before planning a route around it.
Newcastle Is Rebuilding the Trails That Feed It
While the trail's Bellevue entrance is closed, the City of Newcastle and its volunteers are rebuilding the trails that lead toward it.
On the West CrossTown Trail in Hazelwood Park, a new boardwalk is replacing the old one, and Newcastle Trails says it will be wider and stronger. The steps up Cowboy Hill, a short distance west, are being improved too. The city's July 30 construction alert estimated about twelve weeks of work, from August into early October. Crews work weekdays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., and the boardwalk and the trail right next to it are closed during construction. No reopening notice has been posted yet. As of September 26 the boardwalk was still under construction, so expect a fence until the city announces otherwise.
On the East CrossTown Trail, Peggy Price and other volunteers have nearly finished major improvements to the upper half, with the city helping by supplying and breaking rock. Next up is the lower half, just east of the Parkway.
The newsletter credits Newcastle's Parks & Trails Planner, Brendan Hutchins, with several recently finished projects:
- The westernmost stretch of the old railroad section of the May Creek Trail now has a wider, leveled gravel surface with large roots removed.
- The lower entrance of the Terrace Trail was rerouted, with new steps.
- Rock was delivered to the East CrossTown Trail so volunteers could finish its upper half.
There are more connections in the pipeline. Newcastle Trails says the planned GreenCastle development in southeast Newcastle will add new, safer trail links to Cougar Mountain Park and the DeLeo Wall viewpoint. Just south of the city, the planned Northeast Renton Park will run east from the Parkway, with trails on the south side of May Creek and walking access to the May Creek Greenway.
The Fall Calendar Runs Through the Same History
Newcastle's fall calendar centers on the same trails and the same coal-mining past:
- Monday, October 19, Newcastle Trails Annual Meeting. Newport Hills Community Church, 5833 119th Ave. SE, Bellevue. Enter the parking lot from SE 58th. Social time with maps and refreshments runs 6:30 to 7 p.m., followed by the program until 9. Jason Lederer of Renton Parks will cover park and trail projects on Newcastle's south and west sides. Kevin Anderson, Newcastle's new Public Works Director, will also be there. It's open to everyone.
- Saturday, October 31, and Saturday, November 7, Attack of the Blackberry Root Ball. Lake Boren Park, 13058 SE 84th Way. Volunteers pull blackberry roots on the first date and plant trees on the second. No registration is required, according to the city's event page.
- Saturday, November 7, Newcastle Cemetery Volunteer Cleanup. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 7811 129th Ave. SE, hosted by the Newcastle Historical Society.
- Wednesday, November 11, Newcastle Cemetery Open House. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the same address, with docent-led tours and self-guided walks.
The Newcastle Historical Society identifies the Newcastle Coal Miners Cemetery, on 129th Avenue SE just north of Lake Boren Park, as a King County Historic Landmark. The same industry left Ford Slope and the turntable site on the Cougar Mountain map. On November 7, the tree planting at Lake Boren Park and the cemetery cleanup just north of it happen on the same day.
Buyers often ask which Newcastle streets are closest to the Coal Creek Trail, and the closed Red Cedar lot has changed that answer for at least the next few years. If you'd like to know how trail access figures into your home's value, Steve Knoblaugh and the Knoblaugh Team can walk you through it. Start with an instant home valuation.
