Nearly one month ago, Complete Streets Bellevue was happy to announce that we would be hosting three walking audits of NE 8th St, one of the most dangerous streets in Bellevue. These audits would complement the work of city staff and engineers, who would review the corridor and suggest tactical projects to be built with Bellevue’s Vision Zero Rapid Build Project funding to improve safety. Since the feedback from our walking audits would help guide engineers in their project suggestions to city staff, we knew this would be a great opportunity for our community to provide valuable insight – and boy did our community deliver!
Across our three events on March 8th, March 10th, and March 13th, we had 22 attendees show up from all over our city and region to support safe streets! In addition to the many Bellevue & Crossroads neighborhood residents who provided their lived experiences navigating the corridor, we were honored to be joined by representatives from great organizations like Greater Redmond Transportation Management Association (GRTMA), Feet First, and Disability Rights Washington. On our March 13th “Errands” walk, Bellevue City Councilmember Janice Zahn met with us at Crossroads Park to join in our group’s discussion of the difficulties walking & biking around Bellevue. We are extremely grateful for CM Zahn’s attendance and for her leadership in making Bellevue streets safer for all. Special thanks also go to Caitlin Whitehead, who is behind all of the great photos you’ll see of our event. An illustrator by trade, her artistic insight and help with planning the walks helped make them a success. To see her great work, check out her website here.
Below, we’ve included some preliminary findings from each of our events, as well as links to Twitter threads with more details. Although this week was a lot of fun, the work has only just begun – CSB leadership will be collating our community’s feedback into a report, which will be presented to city staff later next week. As soon as that report is complete, we’ll be sure to share it with our community for feedback & questions. We’ll also keep our members updated on next steps for getting the suggested projects actually built, the potential for walking audits on other streets, and other ways to stay involved in the safe streets movement in Bellevue.
We’re so honored and excited to have shared these experiences with our community. We thank you for choosing to be a part of this young but growing movement for safe streets in our city. It’s time for a Bellevue that’s sustainable, safe, and equitable – one that works for all of us, no matter how we get around. Thank you for your part in helping us achieve this vision!
Monday, March 8th – Health
We began with a brief discussion on navigating to health appointments without a car. Many attendees noted how difficult it presently was. 
Introducing participants to the feedback form we’d be using & prepping them for the walk down a steep hill. 
We started walking just after sunset. The darkness helped us notice several points with inadequate lighting that we would not have noticed otherwise. 
A narrow “vegetation” buffer is the only protection between the sidewalk and multi-lane road. 
This buffer not only has no vegetation, but also lacking soil and creates a dangerous tripping hazard. 
Many group members spoke in support of artistic elements like this. Some wished for more projects like this to help make an otherwise drab walk more comfortable and pleasant. 
Towards 148th Ave, there is no vegetation barrier protecting pedestrians from vehicle traffic. It’s therefore possible to have vehicles pass dangerously close & fast as they reach the bottom of the hill. 
148th Ave is a difficult intersection to cross with enough time, mainly due to its sheer size. Our group was unable to make it across within the allotted time. 
The long waiting time for walk signals was also a barrier, but it provided opportunities for further discussion.
Our first walk had the most attendees and was held at twilight, which enabled us to recognize visibility issues which we might not have noticed during the day. Although a lot of participants were able to share experiences of how they’d walked, biked, or taken transit to health appointments in the past, they all noted the difficulties surrounding scheduling & safety that they encountered. After the walk, the group consensus around the stretch of NE 8th St between 148th Ave & 156th Ave was that it was an uncomfortable and drab walk that they would only use if no other options were available. However, we still saw several people jogging, biking, and walking with groceries along this section of the corridor, implying that there are some people for whom improvements to this section would make a difference.
Wednesday, March 10th – School
We had more than enough supplies for the community members, organization reps, and doggos joining us. 
Similar to Monday’s walk, we started by discussing how safe the current infrastructure was for kids who wanted to walk or bike to school. 
Rachel from Feet First brought along her bike, which provided some insight into how ADA accessible certain areas of our walk were. 
We appreciated the wide sidewalks in front of Stevenson Elementary & the wide vegetated buffer protecting pedestrians from the road. 
However, the intersection only has a crosswalk in 3 directions, which can increase trip time. Signal times were also too quick for our mobility-impaired participants. 
The sidewalks grew more narrow as we approached 140th Ave – some people had to navigate off the sidewalk to let our group pass. 
140th Ave was easier to cross than 148th Ave on Monday, but signal times were still too short for anybody who’s not an able-bodied young adult. 
Our group was still halfway in the intersection when the timer ran out. 
Enjoying some hard-earned playtime after a great walk!
Although only a couple of attendees presently had school-aged children, nearly all participants were parents who were able to share experiences of their children walking to school (or being unable to because of lack of safe infrastructure). In our discussion of 15-Minute Cities, we noted how schools are perfect, hyperlocal destinations for which we can build walking & biking infrastructure that’s accessible for all ages – but we often lack the funds or political will to do so. Although certain portions of our route between 140th Ave & 143rd Ave NE were safe for young children in our group’s opinions, other stretches, especially closer to the apartments where kids would actually be coming from, were more dangerous. Our kids deserve safe infrastructure along their whole route, so that they can navigate their way to schools independently & safely.
Saturday, March 13th – Errands
The pavilions at Crossroads Park provided a great backdrop for our group’s discussion. 
Many group members expressed interest in biking and walking to accomplish day-to-day errands, but noted how land use patterns and missing infrastructure often make that difficult. 
One group member brought a wheelchair, which helped us gain valuable insight on which areas were truly ADA-accessible. 
Although the “bike lane” provided some buffer from fast cars, it was still uncomfortable having the sidewalk be right by the road. 
We stopped at the location where a gentleman lost his life late last year and discussed how this road could be changed to make sure that doesn’t happen again. 
The nearest crosswalk to the collision was over 500 feet away. The gentleman was 92 years old – this could have been a prohibitively far distance for him. 
Sidewalk conditions were not always comfortable or safe – holes like this one were really deep and presented real tripping hazards. 
Sidewalks were also not uniformly paved – not only aesthetically displeasing, points like this one can create uncomfortable bumps for people biking or rolling. 
The buffer with trees helped make the walk more comfortable, but the sidewalk still often felt too narrow for our group. 
Although not well-pictured here, inconsistent bumps like this one at various driveways along the route were very bumpy and tall, meaning one would have to navigate around them. 
We saw this bus shelter on our way back that is lacking amenities and doesn’t presently look maintained. 
As we neared Crossroads Park again, the bumpy, narrow sidewalks immediately adjacent to the road returned. 
We appreciated this lit crosswalk in front of Crossroads Park. Our group just wishes there were more of them along this corridor.
We were honored to be joined by Bellevue City Councilmember Janice Zahn for this event, and our group made the most use of her time by having some great discussions on walking, biking, and taking transit for errands in Bellevue. Many in our group expressed desires to be less car-dependent and to be able to use our ped & bike networks to accomplish day-to-day tasks, but noted how the infrastructure is often not there to facilitate that. One group member mentioned how they biked occasionally but often stayed on the sidewalk because of discomfort with cars. Another mentioned how we needed more robust transit service to encourage people to switch from cars. We also talked about the effect that increasing visibility of bike riders & infrastructure can have on encouraging more people to ride. Although we got so lost in our discussion that we began very late, we did eventually walk the corridor between 156th Ave & 164th Ave NE and noted the safety issues that we thought could be fixed.
Complete Streets Bellevue 
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