In January 2016, community leaders gathered in Bellevue, Washington, for a one day summit about transforming the 28-mile Eastside Rail Corridor into a multi-use trail.This was by no means the first such conversation; in fact, planning and construction of various corridor segments had been underway for years. Yet this gathering was different; a new voice for the corridor, the Eastside Greenway Alliance, debuted.
Just months earlier, a small group of community thought leaders had met to imagine the shape and focus of a community-led entity to help catalyze development of the entire Eastside Rail Corridor into a multi-use trail. The vision was, and still is, to ensure that the ERC is a trail for our generation, as well as our children's and future generations.
The group envisioned an Alliance of established and reputable regional and national nonprofits to collectively advocate for the trail by bringing their organization's’ technical strengths and specialties to bear on the project. The Alliance would be co-led by Cascade Bicycle Club and The Trust for Public Land, and financially sustained by those two entities and their funding partners and sponsors. With support on specific priorities and initiatives from the other five establishing nonprofits, as well as regular Alliance communications and meetings.