Eastside update: Bellevue approves bike lanes on 116th

Photo courtesy of the City of Bellevue

On Tuesday, February 17, Bellevue city council approved bike lanes on 116th Avenue NE from NE 12th Street to Northup Way (see full map below). Those who bike through Bellevue can look forward to this new connection that will greatly improve safety and comfort in a corridor that provides critical connections to downtown Bellevue, the SR 520 Trail, the future light rail station at 120th Avenue NE and planned bike lanes on Northup Way.

The 116th Avenue bike lanes will be included in Bellevue’s 2015 Overlay Program where the city repaves and paints streets in need of improvements. As part of this project, the city will remove one northbound lane on 116th Avenue NE and add both a north and southbound bike lane between Northup Way and NE 12th Street.

This kind of street improvement, also known as a rechannelization project, will be an easy and low cost opportunity to improve safety and street capacity for all road users. Studies from around the region show that these projects have minimal effects on vehicle operations and positive impacts on safety. Seattle’s Stone Way N Rechannelization and Nickerson Street Rechannelization, have both resulted in fewer street collisions and excessive speeders. And, according to a 2014 report by the Portland Bureau of Transportation, rechannelization projects in Portland, OR reduced traffic crashes by 37 percent and reduced top-end speeders by 10 percent.

Current designs for the 116th Avenue bike lanes, however, show the lanes ending before the intersection at NE 12th Street, and we would like to see this lane extended all the way to the intersection. While this project is much improved with the rechannelization, it's critical the bike lanes be extended to NE 12th Street. Without a complete connection, many bicyclists will not feel as comfortable using a route that ends abruptly before the intersection. As the city works through final designs, we urge them to consider extending the lanes.

Image

Between city council approving the 116th Avenue bike lanes last week and giving the go-ahead to city staff to continue working on the Bellevue Pedestrian and Bicycle Implementation Initiative, Bellevue gives us plenty to be excited about. The city is showing a real commitment to bicycling and walking and we’ll soon be able to experience these great benefits ourselves when new bike lanes are installed and riding a bike through Bellevue becomes a little easier and a lot more enjoyable.

Until then, let’s work to extend the 116th Avenue NE bike lane all the way to the NE 12th Street intersection.

Read more about the project here and let your Bellevue city councilmembers know that you’d like the lanes extended by sending them an email at council@bellevuewa.gov.

If you want to be more involved in Eastside bike advocacy, send me an email at McKaylaD@Cascade.org to learn more about our Connect Eastside teams.