Pedestrians and student cyclists commonly used the shoulder of the road between Vasa Park and Sunset Elementary School in Bellevue. They abandoned it as growing traffic made it more dangerous. Urged by the Sunset PTA, the State Highway Department paved the shoulder in 1971, and it became part of a planned 25-mile Lake Sammamish Loop Trail.

The official Phase I opening of the new trail was held near Vasa Park. Here, eight-year-old Alice Hancock, Little Miss Issaquah, rides her bicycle under the opening day sign, with a group of children running on the trail behind her. Holding the banner are (left) E.I. (Bob) Roberts, district engineer for the State Highway Department, and (right) State Senator Martin Durkan of Issaquah.

Caption information source: “Happy Cyclists Ride on New Lake Sammamish Loop Trail”, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 17, 1971, page B1.