Diane Kerlin doesn’t live in Milton, but she was as happy as anybody this morning when the city dedicated a new 2.5-mile multi-use trail.
“This is a great day,” said Kerlin, an Edgewood resident who helped plan the trail. “… A lot of hard work went into this.”
Kerlin was one of about 75 people who turned out at the trail Tuesday morning for a ribbon cutting ceremony. And like the rest of the crowd, Kerlin hopes communities around Pierce County keep building trails.
Pierce County officials and trail advocates hope the Milton trail will one day link planned trails in Fife and Edgewood. Eventually the trail will link to the Interurban and Foothills trails. The Interurban Trail runs from Renton to Pacific. The Foothills Trail runs from the outskirts of Puyallup to South Prairie.
“We have some wonderful trails in Pierce County, but certainly not enough of them,” said county councilman Shawn Bunney.
The Milton trail took a decade to plan, said Milton mayor Katrina Asay. The trail was funded by $1 million in grants.
“In a community of 6,000 people this probably wouldn’t have happened without the grants,” Asay said.
Construction started in September and final inspection is Wednesday, said Milton public works director Letticia Neal.
While the trail winds right through the community, Asay says it provides a convenient escape.
“There’s a creek and moss on the trees,” Asay said. “You can lose yourself and pretend you are in the wilderness.”
The paved trail is open to non-motorized users.
Bunney says Pierce County expects to unveil more sections of trail by the end of the year. Projects he says could finish this year include expanding Gig Harbor’s Cushman Powerline Trail and linking the Foothills Trail between South Prairie and Buckley.
Now that Milton’s section is complete, Asay says the city will help Edgewood build its section of the trail.
A community planning meeting for the Edgewood Trail will be held May 1 at Mountain View Lutheran Church at 6:30 p.m.
(Staff writer Brent Champaco contributed to this report.)

A section of the new Milton Interurban Trail. (Photo by Craig Hill, The News Tribune)