In mid-January the Cascade Bicycle Club filed a motion to intervene in the appeal filed by a number of business and industrial groups seeking to halt the city's planned completion of the Burke-Gilman Trail's missing link.

On Jan. 20 the city's hearing examiner granted them intervener status. This status gives the club the right to call and cross-examine witnesses and bring evidence during the March 23 appeal hearing.

David Hiller, advocacy director for the Cascade Bicycle Club, said the club's motion was approved because it has spent the past 30 years investing money and time into completing the trail and was able prove that track record to the hearing examiner.

The appeal was filed Dec. 17 against the Seattle Department of Transportation's determination of non-significance on the environmental impact of the project that would allow construction on the trail to begin this spring. It was filed by Salmon Bay Sand and Gravel, the Ballard Chamber of Commerce, Ballard Oil, the Ballard Interbay Northend Manufacturing and Industrial Center, the North Seattle Industrial Coalition and the Seattle Marine Business Coalition.

The missing link of Burke-Gilman Trail is the section between 11th Avenue Northwest and the Ballard Locks and includes planned segments along Shilshole Avenue and Ballard Avenue.

Hiller said it is important for the club to intervene on behalf of cyclists because there is no opportunity for public comment during the appeal.

He said he believes the city did its due diligence when studying the environmental impacts of trail project and the hearing examiner will side with the Cascade Bicycle Club and the Department of Transportation.

"It was a kitchen sink appeal at the 11th hour," he said. "They threw everything at us hoping something would stick."