UPDATE: Waterway 18 is officially complete! Seattle Parks Foundation and Friends of Waterway 18 joined neighbors, city and state officials to celebrate the grand opening in a ribbon-cutting event Monday, June 21, 2010. Read more about the event in the official press release. Also be sure to check out our Waterway 18 Facebook photo album for pictures of the event.

Seattle Parks Foundation worked with the City, the State, and Friends of Waterway 18 to restore Waterway 18, one of the only natural beaches remaining on Lake Union. Friends of Waterway 18, with support from the Parks Foundation, raised over $200,000 for design, construction, and maintenance of the restored waterway. The project enhances the waterway’s natural and recreational assets, protecting the beach for native plants, lake access, and salmon.

Waterway 18 is an important public open space, jointly managed by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources and the Seattle Department of Transportation. The quarter-acre public beach habitat is used as a base of operations for the Seattle Outrigger Canoe Club and the Sea Scouts. While the large beach, gentle slope, and easy access to the water make Waterway 18 ideal for hand-launched boats, public use was limited due to potentially damaging beach debris, lack of awareness that it exists, and concerns about illicit activities that sometimes occurred at the site.

The restored waterway now provides improved public access to, and use of, the beach. Waterway 18 has the potential to become a wonderful place for the community to launch or land boats as well as a potential feeding area for migrating salmon. Waterway 18 is an excellent model for restoration of other waterways and street ends along Lake Union, and a catalyst for the development of the Cheshiahud Lake Union Loop.

Waterway 18 construction is complete and the waterway is now open for public use.

See the design >

For more information, contact Jessica Shawver at 206.332.9900 x18.