LARRABEE STATE PARK, Wash. – After over a decade of planning and construction, visitors to Larrabee State Park will now have safe and official access to more than a mile of beach.

GoSkagit reports Clayton Beach has long been a popular spot to enjoy the beauty along Chuckanut Drive, but without official access, people had to use makeshift trails and find their own way across active train tracks.

It has been 15 years since planning first began, an official access route is ready to welcome the beachgoers.

The project cost about $3 million and included filling in the social trails with native plants, creating a wide trail to the beach, and building a footbridge over the tracks.

The new design adds about one-quarter of a mile of trail and the new access can be found opposite the Lost Lake trailhead.