Mission | Walk The Waterfront

Walk the Waterfront| It's Everyone's Front Yard

Monitoring eelgrass in our Puget Sound salmon runs:
Eelgrass and other seagrass species are used as an indicator of estuary health throughout the world because they respond to many natural and human caused environmental factors and they play a key role in the nearshore system. READ MORE

San Antonio is home to the famed Riverwalk

Business Examiner article Lines in the Sand by Breanne Coats

The current discussion...

Seattle is asking its citizens to help design a fabulous new waterfront

Great ideas for pedestrian friendly shoreline
People's Waterfront Coalition

On the Waterfront
Tacoma's Past May Be A Key To Its Future
An interview with Walk the Waterfront President Lara Herrmann by Hannalore Sudermann
Washington State Magazine

Dan Burden, Walkability Expert, University of Washington Tacoma: “Cities need to be ready to accept aging and provide great access to services, parks and cafes...Brand new parks and plazas create the places where people will have shared memories.“

Jason Hagey - Waterfront wonder reborn. News Tribune

Lars Gemzoe, Urban Planner, Architect and Lecturer:
“You have a wonderful waterfront...If you can make something great for yourself, these are things generally tourists will like to see.“

Upcoming Events >

Do you want a clean, beautiful, accessible waterfront for our children and grandchildren in the future? Let the Tacoma City Council know your dreams for our waterfront.

Tacoma's Shoreline Master Program guarantees a continuous waterfront esplanade for Tacoma citizens to walk and ride. Do you want a continuous 7 mile waterfront walkway and bikeway? Or are you okay with the separate unconnected segments we have now? Send an email to City Council now to make sure they follow through on the commitment to connect The Tacoma Dome with Point Defiance and complete our 7 continuous miles of waterfront recreation.

How do you enjoy Tacoma's waterfront? What improvements would you like to see? Email us

Our Mission:

Our mission is to encourage enjoyment of Tacoma's waterfront....

April 2012 notice:
It's time to Walk the Waterfront!!! Celebrate the grand re-opening of Ruston Way at Point Ruston's 5K and Fun Run this Saturday April 21st.

Tacoma has 7 miles of sea level shoreline between the Dome-Museum-UWT-Convention Center district and Point Defiance Park and Zoo. Much of this waterfront has public access ... but it is not continuous. There are missing links along our waterfront. Our shoreline is getting healthier with eelgrass fringing beds and intertidal biodiversity returning.
To read learn about biotic community habitats, click here.

It is critical that we continue to speak up to protect a flat, beautiful, sea level waterfront walkway and bikeway connecting the Thea Foss esplanade with the sidewalks and parks along Ruston Way.
Click here to email your ideas to make enjoyable Commencement Bay and Puget Sound waterfronts for the citizens of Pierce County and visitors to our area.

Thank you to all who have written letters and spoken at public meetings to help accomplish this.

We support extending the S-6 Urban Conservancy zone, preserving and upholding the Ruston Way Plan and Foss Waterway Design and Development Plan, and completing the Dome to Defiance shoreline walkway and bikeway.

Continuing the vision ... realizing our potential