This one is a bit rough.
The East Lake Sammamish Trail and adjacent roadways will all be closed starting “as early as May 2026 and lasting through the rest of the year,” according to King County Parks. There will be no official detour.
For most of the year, the only ways to bike between Issaquah and Redmond will be to go around the west side of the lake or to climb the streets through Sammamish. Neither option has the protection and accessibility of the trail.
The trail, Shore Lane and E Lake Sammamish Parkway NE will all be closed at the same time so the City of Sammamish can restore the George David Creek waterway, which currently inhibits salmon passage. When the work is completed, the stream will be open to the air rather than trapped in underground pipes, and the trail will have a cool new creek overlook. So it’s a good project, but a rough closure this year. The trail will be closed between Louis Thompson Road NE and NE Inglewood Hill Road.
It’s frustrating that once again King County refuses to even sign a detour option for folks, instead leaving people to figure it out themselves. It signals that they do not take bicycle transportation seriously and instead consider bicycle trips expendable or for recreation only. Not everyone reads Seattle Bike Blog and will be aware of this closure and how to get around it. Based on what I can determine looking at the map, there should be a way to get around the closure via Louis Thompson Road NE and NE Inglewood Hill Road, though I have not tried the route myself to confirm. It does not look like these roads are too busy, though that could change if they become part of the roadway detour. The shortest detour I can find includes two very steep sections with about 360 feet of elevation gain as well as some sections of roadway without bicycle infrastructure. Still, at least from a cursory glance this seems preferable to going around the west side of the lake, though I would love to hear other opinions. If you are familiar with the area, please let us know in the comments below what routes you would suggest.