Work to curb erosion by the Cedar River in Maple Valley will require an additional two-week-long closure of a portion of King County Parks’ Cedar River Trail, which is now expected to reopen in late September.

A detour around the construction zone is available to trail users.

Begun in early August, the Belmondo Revetment enhancement project is necessary to strengthen the riverbank against erosion and protect State Route 169, a fiber optic cable and the trail itself.

The extension is necessary because the county’s “in-water” crew that specializes in doing the work needed to shore up the bank of this revetment is behind schedule on another project, so it will be late moving to this project, according to Doug Williams, a spokesman for the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks.

Despite the delay, the county should be able to stay within the project’s budget, Williams said.

While the trail remains closed between 16916 Renton-Maple Valley Rd. S.E. to 201st Place Southeast, King County has established a temporary detour around the project work site. The detour requires trail users to briefly walk along the shoulder State Route 169, and extreme caution is urged while on the detour.

The work is expected to cost $90,000, with funding provided by the King County Flood Control District. The King County Roads Services Division is completing the project.

More information about the Belmondo Revetment Enhancement project is available at www.kingcounty.gov/rivers, or by contacting Mason Bowles with the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks, at 206-296-8736; mason.bowles@kingcounty.gov.

The Cedar River Trail stretches 17.3 miles from the river’s mouth at Lake Washington upstream to Landsburg, at the boundary of the City of Seattle’s Cedar River Watershed. It’s part of the county’s regional trails system.