Bellevue is asking for it (in a good way)

Do you ever bike through Bellevue? Or perhaps throw your bike on the bus for part of your journey? Either way, there’s a ton of transportation and bike-related action going down in Bellevue this month that you should definitely know about. Read on!

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This 145th Place SE project includes bike lanes, sidewalks, medians, landscape planters, and street lighting improvements between SE 16th and SE 24th Streets. Photo by City of Bellevue.

First, the City of Bellevue is starting to prioritize road projects that are to be funded in the next 12 years—and new road projects open up the possibility for bike lanes and other treatments that make biking safer in Bellevue. But the City’s planners need to hear from you about where bike lanes are most needed, what intersections need to be made safer, and what new projects will make getting to your destination by bike all the more convenient.

So please attend one of the next Transportation Facilities Plan open houses this month and provide your input on what projects need to get built now and where you want to see bike lanes.

Thursday, Feb. 23 (this week!)
4:30 – 6:30 p.m. at Bellevue City Hall (450 110th Ave NE), Room 1E-108

Tuesday, Feb. 28
4:30 – 6:30 p.m. at Highland Park & Community Center (14224 Bel-Red Road)

If you can’t make either of these open houses, you can also provide feedback through the City’s Transportation Facilities Plan survey, available here.

But wait—there’s more!

Also going on in Bellevue, the City is getting ready to launch its Transit Master Plan effort to examine the current state of transit in Bellevue and how it could be improved.

Though the City doesn’t own its own transit system, it can (and should) invest in roadway improvements that make transit more efficient, faster, and even make biking to the bus better than ever before.

Creating this seamless integration of bicycle and bus travel is what it’s really going to take to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and greenhouse gas emissions in our region—not to mention make us all healthy, bus savvy two-wheeled road warriors.

So if you have feedback about how to make connections to transit by bicycle safer and more convenient, including bike parking at transit stops, please take this short survey and let the City know what you think. After all, they’re asking for it!

And just for fun, here’s a short Streetfilm that illustrates the importance of bus/bike integration (featuring appearances by John Mauro of Cascade and Eileen Kadesh of King County Metro).

Thanks you help in making Bellevue better for bicycling (and transit)!