By spring of next year, the City of Redmond’s divisive, dilapidated downtown rail corridor will begin to be transformed into an elaborate, artistic urban trail.

And that’s only the beginning of a long-term, three-phase plan for the Redmond Central Connector (RCC), the 100-foot wide, 3.89 linear corridor that extends from the east end of Bear Creek Trail in Redmond Town Center right through the middle of downtown and then north along Willows Road to Northeast 124th Street.

“We are going to make it a fun, vibrant part of town,” City of Redmond parks and recreation director Craig Larsen said. “It will be a tremendous amenity.”

Larsen along with other city officials, including Mayor John Marchione, trail designers and residents gathered Tuesday evening at City Hall to celebrate the completion of the Redmond Central Connector master plan.

By 2025, the plan is to create an award-winning trail/park with a heavy art element, complete with multi-use gathering places as well as pedestrian and transit connections, including light rail. The connector will be part of a regional trail system, connecting the Bear Creek and Sammamish River trails.

Developing the one-mile downtown section of the RCC will be the focus over the next decade and then the city will implement the north-south stretch of the corridor along Willows Road after 2020, according to city project manager Carolyn Hope.

Repurposing the downtown section of the old railroad tracks has been in the works for more than a decade, according to the mayor.

“The Redmond Central Connector will tie old town with Redmond Town Center to create one downtown,” Marchione said. “The Redmond Central Connector makes walking and bicycling much easier in downtown and eventually will provide a non-motorized crossing of the Sammamish River.”

The city bought the old weed-filled railroad right-of-way from the Port of Seattle last summer and then began seeking feedback from the community for what this downtown divider could become.

Guy Michaelsen, a principal designer for the master plan, said this trail will be much more than “an asphalt path with grass on the sides.””This is a different type of trail, it’s an urban trail, it will be place to gather,” said Michaelsen, an architect for Berger Partnership, Landscape Architecture & Urban Design.

“It will be vibrant, lively and people are gonna love this place.”The city has secured $4.75 million in funding through city, state and federal grants, for phase one of the project, which is slated to begin next spring.

A 12-foot-wide paved trail with a two-foot shoulder will be built during phase one, right after the completion of the $5.6 million stormwater trunk project. Workers will install a large underground pipe underneath the old railroad tracks that will convey stormwater runoff from more than 250 acres of downtown Redmond to the Sammamish river as part of the stormwater trunk project.

The Redmond City Council awarded the stormwater trunk contract to KLB Construction at Tuesday’s council meeting. The stormwater trunk project, which will begin next month, will start at Redmond Way at the railroad trestle crossing and proceed east down the railroad right of way, then north at 166th Avenue Northeast to the Northeast 83rd Street and north at 170th Avenue Northeast to Avondale Way, according to Ron Grant, City of Redmond assistant public works director.

Once the stormwater trunk project is complete, the Redmond Central Connector project will begin with phase one, which will set the foundation for the rest of the corridor plans, Michaelsen said.

Phase two of the downtown trail is slated for 2016, when the trail and surrounding area will be further developed with artistic elements and gathering spaces, with specific plans contingent on growth, development and funding.

The final phase of the project in 2025 will have the space to integrate the potential for a downtown light rail station and other artistic amenities.

Revitalizing the corridor should ultimately make downtown Redmond an enticing place — not just a place to drive through, Michaelsen said.

“It’s not just about a connection you move through,” he said. “It will also be a place to gather.”

While the trail will feature lots of different and unique nooks and crannies — which Michaelsen called islands and eddys — the common thread through the project is the art element. Perri Lynch of the Seattle-based art studio Velocity Made Good, has been a key member of the design team, Michaelsen said, adding that she can “explore other perspectives that maybe are not so linear.”

“We want to make this a place that is art and doesn’t simply have art,” Michaelsen said.Throughout the downtown sector of the corridor, larger gathering places — which Michaelsen called “landings” — will be spread from block to block.

“We will have a whole series of events that can happen along the corridor,” he said.

The development of the corridor will also help downtown businesses as they can have storefronts on both Cleveland Street to the north and the on the RCC to the south, according to Hope.

“This project is supposed to be an economic driver,” Hope said.

For more information on the project, visit www.redmond.gov/PlansProjects/Parks/RedmondCentralConnector.

For an informational video about the RCC, click here.