New Neighborhood Greenway Planned For East Bellevue

BELLEVUE, WA — Bellevue will soon begin work on a new neighborhood greenway, moving forward with a pilot project to enhance safety for cyclists along a two-mile stretch of 165th Ave. NE and 166th Ave. SE.

Officials said the East Bellevue project is the first of its kind for the city and intended to be a "demonstration" ahead of potentially more permanent fixtures. The city will use "quick-build, low-cost treatments" for the experiment and solicit feedback from residents at each step. Once completed, the test project will stay in place for about six months. If community feedback is positive, the city will add more permanent changes, like speed bumps and concrete traffic circles.

During the demonstration phase, neighbors can expect:

• Bicycle pavement markings such as sharrow symbols and green paint for higher visibility near busy road crossings
• Rapid-build traffic circles and associated pavement artwork at several locations
• Relocating stop signs at key intersections to minimize the number of stops for people biking and rolling
• Wayfinding signs directing people to nearby destinations
• New 20 mph speed limit signs (down from 25 mph)

City planners said building the project as a quick demonstration offers several benefits over starting with a permanent change:

• Provides a low-cost, real-world opportunity to test a neighborhood greenway in Bellevue, and to implement improvements more rapidly and efficiently than traditional project delivery would allow.
• Encourages residents to provide feedback before, during and after installation.
• City staff can monitor traffic conditions and make quick adjustments, if needed.
• Helps to determine appropriate next steps before (potentially) making more expensive, permanent investments.
• Emphasizes data collection to better understand project benefits and impacts that could help guide the implementation of future greenways elsewhere in Bellevue.

Building out the new greenway is estimated to cost $200,000, with funding provided by the neighborhood traffic safety program and the voter-approved Neighborhood Safety, Connectivity and Congestion Levy. Construction will begin soon, and the demonstration will stay in place until early next year.