If you've been riding the Sellar Bridge detour since spring 2025, how much longer will you be on it? The work on the East Wenatchee side has a date, and it's this month. The crossing itself doesn't have one.
Here's the pattern in East Wenatchee this October. The projects inside town are wrapping up on schedule or switching to their next phase. The one connection that links East Wenatchee to downtown Wenatchee on foot or by bike is the piece that slipped. The reasons for that slip sit on the far bank of the Columbia, under a rail line and a stack of utilities.
The October calendar, by end date
| Project | What's affected | Scheduled end |
|---|---|---|
| Loop Trail restoration under the new ramp | East Wenatchee-side trail detour | End of October |
| Water main replacement | 15th Street NE and France Street, between Eastmont Avenue and N Grover Avenue | October 31 |
| Grant Road and Nile Avenue roundabout, South Phase | South Nile closed at Grant Road, Grant Road down to one lane each way | About October 16 |
| Pipeline Bridge connection at Hale Park | Loop Trail river crossing | No revised date |
Three of those four rows end inside the month. The fourth doesn't.
The trail detour on this side is nearly done
The South End Bike and Pedestrian access bridges project spans both sides of the Columbia. Construction started in April 2025, and the original plan was to reopen the T.W. Clark Pipeline Bridge in November 2026. On the East Wenatchee side, the city of Wenatchee's project page describes a new access bridge that crosses SR 28 and comes down near 9th Street NE.
That ramp is why East Wenatchee has had its own trail detour. Nicole Brockwell, Wenatchee's Engineering Services Manager and the project manager, explained the East Wenatchee-side work to NCWLIFE at the end of September:
"Our contractor has been working on getting the trail restored underneath that ramp structure that makes that connection to (Kirby Billingsley Hydro Park), which is why we've had a detour on the East Wenatchee side of the project as well. We expect that detour to be pulled by the end of October."
She told the Wenatchee City Council the same thing on September 24. According to the Wenatchee Business Journal's October 1 report, trail restoration on the East Wenatchee side was "nearing completion," and staff expected the detour to come out by the end of October.
So if your regular loop runs along the river near Hydro Park, the path under the new ramp should be back in use within a few weeks.
Why the crossing slipped, and where
The trail along the river in East Wenatchee is one piece. Getting across the river is another, and that depends on the Wenatchee side. To reopen the Loop Trail connection, crews have to finish the safety features on the ramp structure in Hale Park. That ramp is what lets walkers and riders reach the existing pedestrian bridge. Brockwell told the council that late deliveries for the lighting system and construction problems with the handrail made the November target unreachable. The city hasn't set a new reopening date.
The site itself makes the schedule harder to recover. City Engineer Jake Lewing described the problems in the same council discussion:
- BNSF limits work in or near its tracks during certain times of year.
- An irrigation line can only be worked on in winter, and part of that window overlaps the railroad restrictions.
- Electrical transmission lines serving Wenatchee run through the area.
- A natural gas main that supplies East Wenatchee crosses the tracks there.
So part of what crews are working around is the gas line that supplies East Wenatchee. Brockwell said the specific setback came from delays in third-party utility work, which kept the city from relocating part of the irrigation line last year. That relocation now has to wait for the next available window, which pushes back construction of the project's helical ramp and moves the overall finish to fall 2027. Most of the remaining construction is on the west side of the BNSF tracks.
The city's two statements about the crossing don't quite match, so here they are side by side. Tom Wachholder, Wenatchee's Public Works Director, told NCWLIFE he hopes to reopen the bridge this winter and have the whole project done by the end of next year. The council update described in the Business Journal says no revised reopening date has been set. Read "this winter" as a goal, not a date. One more thing: the city's project page still shows a timeline last updated in February 2026, which was before the November target slipped.
Getting across in the meantime
Until the connection reopens, the long-running construction detour still sends trail traffic over the George Sellar Bridge. On the Wenatchee end, the city plans to repaint the shared-lane markings on South Wenatchee Avenue, since that detour will be in place longer than planned.
The city also suggests Link Transit for people who usually walk or bike the Clark Pipeline Bridge. Every Link bus has a bike rack, and the project page points to Route 12, East Wenatchee–Fred Meyer.
Under the streets, the water mains are on schedule
The East Wenatchee Water District project replaces larger transmission mains along 19th Street NE, N Baker Avenue, 15th Street NE and Eastmont Avenue. Work started May 26, and completion is estimated by the end of October 2026. The city's update says the 19th Street segment is finished and open.
The closure most people are dealing with right now is 15th Street NE and France Street between Eastmont Avenue and N Grover Avenue, scheduled for September 9 through October 31. The same alert also listed closures on Eastmont Avenue and N Baker Avenue. The page was last updated September 4, so check it before you plan around a specific block.
That's two projects inside East Wenatchee, the trail restoration and the water mains, both aiming for the same last week of October.
Grant and Nile: October 16 starts the next phase
The roundabout at Grant Road and Nile Avenue breaks the October pattern. Its date this month starts the next phase rather than ending the work.
Douglas County's two-lane roundabout, built by Selland Construction, started September 8. In the current South Phase, South Nile Avenue is closed to through traffic between Grant Road and 2nd Street SE. Grant Road is down to one lane each way, and the county expects this setup to last until about October 16. Local residents keep access, through traffic detours on South Nevada Avenue and 2nd Street SE, and the speed limit in the work zone is 20 mph.
After that, the county says traffic control will switch to a North Phase layout. The county alert we reviewed doesn't give the North Phase closure limits or detours yet, so the October 16 date tells you when the cones move, not where they'll end up. The project is expected to be substantially complete by summer 2027 and will add curb and gutter, a sidewalk and a shared-use path.
This intersection matters more than its size suggests. KPQ calls Grant Road a freight route that carries thousands of daily users between East Wenatchee, Pangborn Airport and the industrial and farm areas to the east.
A new reason to drive out Grant Road
That route to Pangborn now leads to a second destination. On October 3, Pangborn started daily, year-round nonstop service to Portland on Alaska Airlines' Horizon Air operation, alongside its existing Seattle flights. If you're driving to an early flight before mid-October, the trip out Grant Road passes through the one-lane South Phase setup. After that, it passes through whatever the North Phase layout turns out to be.
Closer to home, the Friends of the East Wenatchee Library hold their fall book sale October 16 through 18 at City Hall, 271 9th St. NE. Hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. City Hall is a short walk from where the new access bridge comes down near 9th Street NE.
If you're wondering how a long construction season might affect what your East Wenatchee home is worth, Lynn Stoddard and our team follow these projects closely, and we're happy to talk through it with you. Get Your Instant Home Valuation to start.
