Bellevue to shave minutes off commutes with new levy money
Mar 30, 2017, 5:30 AM | Updated: 9:15 am
The first projects funded by a voter-approved levy in November should save drivers a few minutes as they try to get around Bellevue.
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Bellevue is setting its sights on the daily grind in the Eastgate, home to Bellevue College, a large transit center, car dealerships, and I-90 access. There are many homes, and it’s the area where everyone trying to get to the freeway jams neighborhood streets on a daily basis.
“We have a lot of cut-through traffic in Bellevue,” city traffic engineer Chris Long said. “As I-405 gets congested and as I-90 gets congested, you see people coming down every arterial in the city, and it all funnels to that intersection.”
The intersection Long is referring to is where 150th Avenue SE, which is the north-south route, meets SE 37th Street. One direction is the off-ramp from I-90. Another includes the on-ramp to I-90. It backs up every day, especially during the afternoon commute.
“That intersection is blocking the flow of traffic for people who are getting off I-90 and wanting to get to the Westlake Sammamish neighborhood, or people who are coming south on 150th and want to get up into Somerset and the Eastgate neighborhood,” Long said.
These projects should help distribute the traffic and give more dedicated space to turning vehicles and get them out of the through-lanes. The $2.8 million plan at that intersection includes larger turn pockets and some widening of the road and shoulder areas.
But the daily congestion on 150th doesn’t stop at that intersection. It usually extends up the hill to Newport Way. Long said another project, estimated to cost $2.6 million, will add a 600-foot-long turn lane for access to Newport Way.
“That will help pull some of that traffic out of the two lanes that are there and get them out of the way,” Long said. “In doing that, we improve the overall operation of that intersection.”
The goal of these two projects is to shave time off drive between Bellevue College and Newport Way and make the intersections along that mile stretch of 150th to work more efficiently.
“On the average commute day, it’s about 12 minutes to get from Bellevue College to Newport Way,” Long said. “With these two improvements, we’ve found it will get that average down to about seven-and-a-half minutes. We’re looking at a four-and-a-half minute travel time savings through there, which is significant.”
The city hopes to have the projects 60-percent designed before the end of the year.
Some of the other levy money will be spent near Crossroads Mall, focusing on sidewalks and other pedestrian safety improvements. The $0.15 per $1,000 of assessed value property tax increase passed with 54-percent support. It will raise approximately $7 million a year for 20 years.
